Prison Sentences

(asked on 22nd June 2022) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of prison sentences given to offenders; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact of longer sentences for offenders.


Answered by
James Cartlidge Portrait
James Cartlidge
Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
This question was answered on 30th June 2022

The government’s top priority is protecting the public; it is essential that we have a sentencing framework that delivers this and ensures victims and the wider public have confidence that the punishment fits the crime in every case.

In 2020, the Government published a Sentencing White Paper and consequently delivered measures in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act which received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022. Measures include ending automatic halfway release from prison for serious crimes, making a Whole Life Order the starting point for a premeditated murder of a child and a new power to refer high-risk offenders to Parole Board in place of automatic release.

While prisons keep people safe by taking dangerous criminals off our streets, we recognise that they can only bring down crime and keep the public safer in the longer-term if they properly reform and rehabilitate offenders. We therefore published the Prisons Strategy White Paper in December 2021 where we re-iterated our commitment to help individual turn their backs on crime and we will spend £200 million a year by 2024-25 to improve prison leavers’ access to accommodation, employment support and substance misuse treatment.

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