A key crime and courts bill
stating proposals to reform community punishment by Ken Clarke, has been
dismissed by justice secretary Chris Grayling. Grayling plans to ’spice up’ the
bill, revealing his new approach on Tuesday, claiming he wants to be the ‘tough
justice secretary’ by imposing more punitive community sentences. He believes
“more competition, more outsourcing and more payment by results” is the way
forward. Probation sources write that Gray has dismissed Clarke’s proposal for
community sentences as he does not want them to be an alternative to custody.
The 220,000 offenders, that receive community sentences every year, could be
subject to 24-hours tagging, satellite tracking and the seizing and selling of
their assets and property, some of which were under consideration already. He
has also postponed the legislation that is essential in setting up the new
national crime agency. This move comes about as NAPO, the probation union,
fight to stop the privatization of the probation, stating this would result in
poorer protection of the public due to staff cuts in training and fewer staff
overall. A private company already handle the supervision of low and medium
risk offenders. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said this move was to bring
about innovation through competition, or is this just quality and effectiveness
lost to ideology?
