Repeat offenders face jail

Jack Straw wants a debate about repeat offenders

Home Secretary Jack Straw is to call for new measures to punish persistent offenders.

In a speech to probation officers on Tuesday he will suggest a range of new sentences aimed at cracking down on repeat criminals and ending "revolving door" justice.

One expected proposal will be for tougher community sentences allowing courts to send offenders failing to comply with punishments straight to prison.

Other suggested measures will include "day prisons", where offenders could be forced to spend nine to five or weekends behind bars, greater use of electronic tagging and the permitting of courts to combine community and jail sentences.

A senior Home Office source said the measures were not immediate policy proposals but that Mr Straw wished to initiate a consultation process on the problem of persistent offenders.

The burglars who targeted farmer Tony Martin had many previous convictions

The government wants to offer courts new ways of dealing with repeat offenders while having the power to punish individual crimes, he said.

Penal experts say there's a good case for sentences which target the offender rather than the crime. But they warn that legislation which tied the hands of the courts would be damaging.

The proposals come after Conservative leader William Hague launched a policy offensive on law and order, calling for a radical overhaul of legislation on self-defence.

Mr Hague said there was a need to rebalance the law after the case of farmer Tony Martin, jailed for killing a 16-year-old breaking into his home.

It later emerged that the burglars breaking into Martin's remote Norfolk home had more than 100 previous convictions between them.