Boris Johnson orders urgent sentencing review and vows punishments to ‘truly fit the crime’

Boris Johnson has ordered an urgent review of sentencing for dangerous offenders and vowed punishments will “truly fit the crime“. 

The PM announced the move as he continued his crackdown on crime, after enhancing stop and search powers as well as announcing 10,000 new prison places. 

Work on the sentencing review is set to start immediately and to report back to No 10 in the autumn.  

Its remit is to look at the rules governing how and when violent and sexual offenders are released from prison.

He said: “Dangerous criminals must be kept off our streets, serving the sentences they deserve – victims want to see it, the public want to see it and I want to see it.

“To ensure confidence in the system, the punishment must truly fit the crime. We have all seen examples of rapists and murderers let out too soon or people offending again as soon as they’re released.

“This ends now. We want them caught, locked up, punished and properly rehabilitated.”

Currently, offenders sentenced to 12 months or more serve the first half of their time in prison.

They then spend the second “on licence” in the community, where they may be subject to recall.

The review will consider whether changes to legislation are needed so that more time is spent in jail.

Mr Johnson will highlight the approach at a Downing Street round table on Monday.

In this meeting he will bring together leaders from the police, probation and prison sectors.

Over the weekend, Mr Johnson said he was determined to tackle rising levels of knife crime amid the impression of a growing “culture of insolence” among “thugs” who believed they could act with impunity.

At the same time, he said the Government would be investing £2.5 billion in creating 10,000 new prison places to ensure serious violent and sexual offenders got the sentence they deserved.

His latest announcement will be seen as further evidence that he is preparing the ground for an autumn general election amid continuing deadlock in Parliament over Brexit.

On his expansion of stop and search powers, Mr Johnson acknowledged the move would be controversial but said he believed it would have the backing of the parents of those children most at risk of getting caught up in knife crime.

“We are making clear that the police can and should make use of their stop-and-search powers,” he wrote.

“I know that left-wing criminologists will object. And, of course, it is right that stop-and-search should be done courteously and in accordance with the law.

“But I also know that the people who back this intervention most fervently are often the parents of the kids who are so tragically foolish as to go out on the streets equipped with a knife, endangering not only the lives of others but their own.”

On investment in the prison system – approved by Chancellor Sajid Javid – the PM said this was “long overdue”.

When police did catch violent criminals, he said that it was “vital they get the sentence they deserve”.

However critics have warned there was no evidence longer sentences would result in a reduction in crime.

Liberal Democrat justice spokeswoman Wera Hobhouse said the UK already had the largest prison population of any country in Western Europe and a different approach was needed.

“For years, Labour and Tory ministers have made sentences longer and longer, without any evidence that they prevent crime,” she said.

“It may sound tough, but it hasn’t made our communities any safer. All it does is overcrowd our prisons and waste millions of pounds.

“We do need a sentencing review, but its aim should be to reverse decades of pointless sentence inflation. Instead of just talking tough, it’s time ministers look at the evidence.”

While shadow home secretary Diane Abbott previously said: “This draconian approach shows that Boris Johnson’s government has no real plans to invest in policing or a public health approach to tackling violent crime.

“They have opted to ‘appear tough’ instead of dealing with the root causes of crime.

“Evidence based stop and search will always be a vital tool in preventing crime. But random stops have only poisoned police community relations.”