As part of his Plan priority to make communities safer, James Wild MP has raised concern for the potential adoption of softer sentencing policies in the UK following the Justice Secretary's recent visit to Texas.
During Justice questions in Parliament, James pressed the Secretary of State for Justice on how the government plans to address the growing court backlog and ensure offenders serve their sentences.
With the Crown Court system under increasing pressure and a record-high backlog of 73,000 cases as of September 2024, James highlighted concerns over the adequacy of government efforts to address delays.
Despite increased funding and additional court sitting days, he questioned whether these measures would be enough to resolve the backlog and the Justice Secretary has admitted the backlog will grow.
James has been a consistent supporter of tougher sentences than punish offenders while also rehabilitating them. He successfully campaigned for amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill to give judges new powers to compel offenders to attend sentencing hearings for serious crimes punishable by 14 years or more however this legislation fell before the election.
James Wild MP said:
"Despite this announcement, the backlog will increase. When cases do go to court, it is important that offenders serve the sentence they are given.
Following the Lord Chancellor’s trip to Texas, where some prisoners serve as little as 25% of their sentence, will she rule out adopting such a soft sentencing policy?"
In response, the Secretary of State for Justice said:
"The Texans had similar problems to those we face today, but they had theirs 20 years or so ago. Their system of good behaviour credits incentivises offenders to engage in rehabilitation activity and to get help for their drug addictions, alcohol problems, mental health issues and so on.
If offenders engage with that system and get their good behaviour credits, they can earn their way to an earlier parole hearing. It is the definition of a tough system, because it says to offenders, ‘You have to do something good in order to earn the possibility of an earlier release.
It is a system that is well worth learning from, because the reoffending rates are very low compared with ours. One of the prisons I visited in Texas has a reoffending rate of 17%. I dream of that number for us in this country, because every time we bear down on reoffending, that is cutting crime. It is a strategy for making sure that we have fewer victims in the future.
I hope that if whatever proposals we bring forward lead to a reduction in reoffending, the hon. Gentleman will back those proposals."
James has also warned against early prison releases, describing them as a potential cover for introducing softer sentences and highlighted concerns about violent offenders and drug dealers being released early. He has also called for greater use of electronic tagging and urged the government to ensure courts impose maximum sentences as legislated by Parliament.
