Labour set to free killers and rapists earlier under new soft-justice masterplan branded 'recipe for a crimewave' by the Tories

Daily Mail​

22-05-2025

Labour is set to free killers and rapists from jail earlier under a new soft-justice masterplan.
The Government's sentencing review was last night savaged by victims and senior police officers, while the Tories dubbed it a 'recipe for a crimewave'.
The plan contains a raft of measures to slash sentences served by prisoners – from shoplifters to killers – by up to a third.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who commissioned the review to free up space in overcrowded prisons, is poised to become the weakest law and order minister in history by allowing thousands more criminals a year to dodge jail completely.
Most of the plan has already been adopted in principle by Labour. Tory frontbencher Robert Jenrick blasted the measures as 'a get-out-of-jail-free card for dangerous criminals'.
'It's a recipe for a crime wave,' the Shadow Justice Secretary told MPs in the Commons. 'The Labour Party are clearly ideologically opposed to prison.
'The radical, terrible changes today may be cloaked in necessity, but the root of them is their ideology. And it's the public who will pay the price for their weakness.'
The review said criminals convicted of serious violence or sex offences could win their freedom after serving half their jail term, rather than at the current three-quarters point – a one-third reduction.
This lower automatic release date would apply to offenders convicted of 'rape, manslaughter, soliciting murder, attempted murder and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm', the document said, providing they behaved well in jail.
Most other offenders would be released after serving just a third of their sentence if they demonstrated good behaviour.
Short jail sentences of less than 12 months – typically imposed on shoplifters, burglars and other thieves – will be largely scrapped and imposed only in 'exceptional circumstances'. Even jail terms for murder should be reviewed, said the review, drawn up for Labour by former Tory Cabinet minister David Gauke.
It made a series of recommendations to improve community sentences, such as wider electronic tagging, to create what Ms Mahmood described as a 'prison outside prison'. Mr Gauke estimated his plan would free up 9,800 jail spaces by 2028.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp warned it would 'unleash a tsunami of crime, as criminals will know they can steal with no effective punishment'.
'Many criminals will take the opportunity to commit more crime when they are let out so early,' he said. 'Releasing rapists and violent offenders from prison after just half their sentence will put women at risk by allowing these vile criminals onto the streets. This document is a criminals' charter. It rewards criminals, disregards victims and will lead to higher crime.'
Victims' groups and bereaved relatives expressed their dismay, with several saying they asked Mr Gauke for the chance to contribute their views – but were spurned.
A spokesman for the Justice for Victims campaign group, co-founded by the parents of Sarah Everard who was raped and murdered by a serving Met Police officer in 2021, said: 'We were deeply disappointed that Mr Gauke decided he didn't have time to meet with our group and failed to answer basic questions about how the views of victims and their families were being taken into account.
'There isn't any excuse for letting the worst offenders get out of prison even earlier. We hope MPs of all parties will ensure that nothing is done to weaken punishment of the worst offenders.' Glenn Youens, whose four-year-old daughter Violet-Grace was killed by a stolen car in a hit-and-run, blasted the 'insulting' proposals.
Mr Youens, 38, said he and wife Becky, 37, asked to speak to Mr Gauke but were rebuffed, adding: 'It doesn't feel like they've consulted a single victim.
'If the prisons are full, they should put four in a cell.
'Prisons should not be comfortable. Nobody wants to go to prison in Thailand because they know how horrendous the conditions are. That's how it should be.'
Even the normally cautious National Police Chiefs Council sounded concerns. A spokesman said: 'Trust and confidence in the criminal justice system must not be lost through these reforms.
'It is crucial for public safety that high-risk offenders, including those convicted of violent or sexual offences, are exempt from early prison release.'
It is understood that top officers have written to Ms Mahmood, expressing grave doubts about the plans.
In the Commons, Ms Mahmood told Mr Jenrick he had been 'part of a government that did not build the prison places that this country needs'. The review's recommendations are expected to be included in a forthcoming sentencing Bill.