Community sentences a laughing stock – UK report

A new report has confirmed what the public and many victims have known for a long time – that community sentences are a disaster.

The report released by the UK based Centre for Social Justice [CSJ] has found that around a third of criminals given a community sentence are caught reoffending within a year and many offenders did not comply with the sentence at all.

The report recommends community sentences be replaced with ‘swift and certain’ prison sentences for serial offenders, a recommendation the Sensible Sentencing Trust says should be implemented here.

SST Spokesman Garth McVicar said the ‘swift and certain’ concept had been hugely successful in the US and was drastically reducing reoffending rates.

“This report in reality simply confirms what most sensible people know. That community sentences have made a mockery of the so-called Justice System, not only allowing offenders to reoffend at will but destroying public confidence and credibility in a system supposedly designed to protect the good guys from the bad guys.”

“Community sentences have become a joke amongst offenders but the many thousands of victims created don’t share the joke.”

“It appears other countries are waking up to the fact that their policy makers have failed them but here in New Zealand our politicians are totally out of touch with the community – the recent legal high debacle being a classic example of how out of touch they are.”

ENDS

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