'Tough on crime' plan unveiled

There will be better rehabilitation programmes for offenders

Persistent offenders are to face harsher punishments under new laws allowing judges to take greater account of their records when passing sentence.

The change is expected to be a key feature of a root-and-branch shake-up of the criminal justice system being announced by Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday.

Far from it being a soft option, it will be much harder

Paul Boateng

The 10-year plan to tackle crime will offer offenders greater help with rehabilitation through better drug treatment, education and training in jails and help with jobs and housing on release.

Before the plan's publication, Tony Blair will become the first serving prime minister to visit a British jail when he goes to Pentonville Prison in London with Home Secretary Jack Straw.

Crime is expected to be a key issue at the next general election, widely expected to take place this spring.

'Severe punishment'

Ahead of the plan's launch the Liberal Democrats said they welcomed proposals to reform the criminal justice system but said more effort needed to be put into providing alternative activities for teenagers.

The Police Federation described the plan as containing "good things" in terms of changes to the justice system.

The government's £700m programme will provide 2,500 more prison places, and a third of the cash will be spent on rehabilitation programmes.

Offenders who fail to take advantage of the new help and end up before the courts again have been warned they can expect to be dealt with far more severely.

The scheme is designed to end the "revolving door" system of justice, which sees the same hard core of offenders return before the courts again and again.

'Ineffective system'

The government believes the Tories' Criminal Justice Act 1991 prevented judges from taking sufficient account of previous records when sentencing, leading to a string of short and ineffective spells in jail.

Paul Boateng: "No soft options"

Home Office minister Paul Boateng said on Sunday that, under the plan, all offenders would be subjected to intensive supervision following release from jail.

He said: "Far from it being a soft option, it will be much harder.

Leaked memo

His comments followed a leaked Home Office memo indicating some criminals sentenced to a year in custody could be released after three months.

Mr Boateng brushed aside the memo, leaked to the Sunday Times, and said the government's plans would crack down on the 100,000 hard core of repeat offenders.

But shadow home secretary Ann Widdecombe said government plans would lead to an extra 32,000 prisoners being released early each year.

She said: "This latest leak is a smoking gun on Labour's failure to deliver on law and order. Labour are soft on crime and they know it."

'Constructive alternatives'

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Simon Hughes told the BBC Labour had promised so much on law and order but badly failed to deliver.

Labour is planning a 'superbobby' scheme

His party were "very sympathetic" to major criminal justice system reforms but effort also needed to be put into providing teenagers with "more constructive alternatives to crime".

Fred Broughton, chairman of the Police Federation, said the court system needed to become "a place more for victims than a home for lawyers" and he hoped the government's plan would go some way towards achieving that.

Other initiatives expected to be detailed in a statement to the Commons by Mr Straw on Monday include a "superbobby" bonus for senior police who stay on the beat rather than move to desk jobs.

Latest Home Office figures show overall crime dropped by a negligible 0.2% in the 12 months to September 2000, but headline-grabbing violent crime rose by 8%.

The proposals come just days after the release of the International Crime Victims Survey, which showed that people in England and Wales were more likely to be victims of crime than residents of virtually any other developed country.