Government goes ahead with `preventative detention'
01 January 1991
Government goes ahead with `preventative detention'
artdoc April=1992
The Government is expected to press ahead with plans to allow
courts to impose long sentences on those convicted of relatively
less serious crimes, when the person concerned has a record of
having committed violent or sexual crimes in the past. The
proposal, which has been criticised by one Conservative peer as
harking `back to the days of preventative detention', is likely
to be included in a Criminal Justice Bill later this year.
In a statement made in the wake of London crime figures
showing a further rise in violent and sexual offences, Home
Office minister John Patten said the courts needed power to deal
with `the small number of persistent violent offenders who become
more dangerous over time, and whom experience has shown to pose
a real risk to public safety.'
Explaining how the proposal would work, Mr. Patten said: `Take
the case of a man who has a history of serious violent crime, but
who is found guilty of a lesser offence of actual bodily harm,
which might merit only a 12 month sentence. The judge would
evaluate the risk that the man poses to the community, and could,
if necessary, impose a sentence up to the maximum for that
offence of five years. The same would apply to sexual offences.'
(Guardian 10.8.90)
Institute of Race Relations, Police-Media Bulletin, no 63