A shocking report by the British Home Office shows that those convicted of violent offences are less likely to receive a custodial sentence than are other offenders.

In the latest blow to public confidence in the criminal justice system, a report seen by the Yorkshire Post reveals that just 32 per cent of criminals responsible for violent offences – categorised as everything from murder to assault to obstructing a police officer – are sent to prison.

But custodial sentences are handed down to more than 36 per cent of offenders convicted of non-violent offences, such as fraud, theft, burglary, criminal damage, drink-driving and public order offences.

The minister responsible tries to pass the buck to lenient judges.  Of course, he could be quite right about that.  Obviously, another government study is needed.

Prisons Minister Gerry Sutcliffe insisted the Government had been calling on the independent judiciary to be tougher with dangerous violent offenders.

The study also found a negative correlation between length of sentence and probability of re-offending after release.  Criminals receiving longer sentences were less likely to re-offend.

In related news, a public debate on the efficacy and justice of prison sentencing was held recently in London.  The motion before the house was, simply, “Prison Works”; each side had three high-profile and knowledgeable defenders.  Before the debate, the audience voted against the motion, but in the end, they were persuaded to change their views.  A majority ultimately agreed with the three conservatives that prison is a necessary and beneficial social institution.

Independent columnist Dominic Lawson asked one of those arguing that prison doesn’t work why his side lost.

Afterwards, I went up to Harry Woolf and, a little tactlessly, asked him why he thought his side had lost the debate it seemed to have won before it started. "Because of Charles Murray's argument that prison is the best way of protecting the poor," he replied. It was almost as if Harry Woolf was conceding that his side had been beaten by its own best debating weapon: an appeal to our concern for the least well-off in society.

That, indeed, was Charles Murray's tactic. He pointed out that the vast majority of crimes of robbery and violence are carried out by young men in deprived areas against others in their local community.

Mr Lawson also points out that, as Britain’s prison population has increased in recent years, recorded crimes have dropped.  Funny that.  If British courts were more diligent in locking up violent offenders, the crime rate would almost certainly drop even further.

h/t for Yorkshire Post: Eye on Britain

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