Getting tough on the causes of crime.

“If you can’t do the time don’t do the crime”. It’s a common saying in prison. Another one on receiving sentence is “I can do that with my eyes shut”.

Prison to a career criminal is just an occupational hazard, when I say career criminal I mean repeat offenders and most of our prisoners are repeat offenders trapped into a system that locks them out of sight for a couple of years only to release them back into society with the same problems they had when they went in.

Is it time for a complete overhaul of our penal system?

Well first let’s look at how the system currently works. At this point we will presume the police have done a good job and got our man banged to rights and before a judge or magistrate who has ordered a pre-sentence report which will recommend a particular type of sentence. In this imaginary case a short custodial sentence which the judge decides two years is sufficient. Instantly that sentence becomes 12 months because in all sentences less than 4 years, only half is served in side, the other half outside on licence.

On a sentence of 4 years or more the time inside is increased to two thirds. When the prison becomes too full that remaining 12 months may be reduced by another 6 weeks where the offender is released on an electronic tag with a curfew. So out of the two year sentence only 10 months and 2 weeks will be served inside. Now let’s take into account time spent in prison awaiting trial or sentence as that too is taken off, it can be up to 4 or more months. So we are down to 6 months and the offender is released with all the same problems he went in with.

Prison serves two purposes, punishment and rehabilitation. I suggest it does neither at present.

Freedom Democrat crime policy is already tough, it will increase the minimum term served to two thirds for all sentences. Increase the minimum term recommended for serious offences, (e.g. dwelling house burglary, drug supplying, rape) and introduce a life means life sentence for capital offences.(1)

However we can go further and address the problems that took the offender to prison in the first place and not release him until those problems are addressed. These problems will undoubtedly include drug abuse as 80% of all crime is drug related, either in supplying or using. I don’t go for the liberal easy get out of making drugs legal. The problem remains legal or not. Other issues will be alcohol abuse, anger management, mental health issues, educational issues, self respect, respect for others and personal discipline.

And here is my simple answer; no one is released until all these issues are corrected. It may well mean longer sentences but I would rather see an offender spend a lengthy time inside and come out problem free, than a life time of short sentences that have insufficient time to address all the cause of his crime. Before you say the prisons are full, yes they are but it has always been that way, only recently has the media found out about it. In the long term it should decrease the number of offenders because we are addressing the causes of crime. If it means building more prisons then we will build more prisons. More work for the British construction industry.

To put into practice, the pre-sentence report carried out by the probation service will become a “Rehabilitation Plan” with clear goals and objectives to be achieved by the prisoner and the prison. The victim will also be offered some input into the Plan. The length of sentence will be determined not only by the crime but by the problems that caused the crime. The end result will be a drug free ex offender, educated to employment standard and taught how to respect himself and others. There will be no time allowed off the sentence until these objectives have been reached.

Michael Simpkins worked in the private custodial industry in magistrates and crown court cells with some of the country’s worst offenders. He has firsthand experience of how our penal system is failing.

(1) Capital offences will include:

Murder of a child, where it is preceded by abduction and/or sexual activity.

Murder by a man on a woman, where it is preceded by abduction, and/or rape or sexual activity.

A murder which is one of a series of murders by the same person over a period of time. (serial killers).

Murder by terrorism.