Bob Neill, MP for Bromley & Chislehurst, has welcomed Government proposals for tougher community sentences that will see offenders made to do a full five-day week of hard work and job-seeking. The work will include manual labour, improving public areas by clearing up litter, cleaning graffiti and maintaining parks and other green spaces.
The new rules will see unemployed criminals forced to work a minimum of 28 hours over four days, with the fifth day spent looking for full-time employment.
These proposals are part of the Government’s plans to reform sentencing and tackle the root causes of offending. As well as giving something back to communities affected by crime, they will help bring structure to offenders’ lives. This will encourage them back into the routine of hard and meaningful work.
Commenting on the Government’s proposals, Bob Neill said:
“People want to see offenders punished for their crimes as well as giving back to the community. They should be made to work the full five-day week that decent, law-abiding citizens do, rather than idly wasting their time hanging out on street corners.
“The introduction of a regular, meaningful working week will help break the cycle of crime and tackle the appalling rate of reoffending we inherited from the last Government. As a direct result of these measures, we will shortly see fewer criminals, fewer victims of crime and big savings for the taxpayer - a thoroughly positive result for society and the local community here in Bromley & Chislehurst.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
• Community sentences cut crime. Over 61 per cent of those sentenced to less than a year in prison will be re-convicted within two years of release. By contrast, the reoffending rate for community orders is 37 per cent, falling to 34 per cent for those on intensive programmes (Howard League for Penal Reform, link).
• Community sentences save money. Lower reoffending leads to lower costs for victims and the criminal justice system in the long run. Community orders are also cheaper as immediate solutions. On average they cost a tenth of what it costs to send a person to prison for a year. A year in prison costs approximately £45,000. Most community orders enforcing unpaid work or directly tackling problems such as accommodation or alcohol cost £2,000-3,000 per year (ibid.).
Further information about proposals:
• The new instructions will see unemployed criminals forced to work a minimum of 28 hours over four days, with the fifth day spent looking for full time employment. Prior to today’s announcement, Community Payback programmes could be spread out over 12 months with some offenders working for a minimum of just six hours per week. The new, more intensive scheme will also be delivered more immediately after sentence, imposed on offenders within seven days of sentencing, instead of the two weeks it currently takes following the court appearance (Ministry of Justice Press Release, 24 August 2011).
• About 100,000 individuals are sentenced to Community Payback each year across England and Wales with over 8.8 million hours of unpaid work completed last year. The public can nominate jobs for offenders via the direct.gov website at www.direct.gov.uk/forms/form/266/en/nominate_a_community_payback_project. Offenders can also be required to undertake hard manual labour such as working on a community farm (ibid.).
• Earlier this year the Ministry of Justice announced that Community Payback will be competed out to approved companies and probation trusts. The purpose of the competitions is to drive efficiencies in public protection and further help to cut re-offending (ibid.).
• This is one of a number of proposals to make community sentences more punitive. The Ministry of Justice recently confirmed that tagged offenders will be confined to their homes for up to 16 hours every day for a year (ibid.).
• The courts will continue to decide on the total number of hours of Community Payback an offender must complete; it is then for local Offender Managers to decide, based on an offender’s circumstances, the number of hours they complete each week (ibid.).