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Grace Hammond
"Reforms announced by Home Secretary John Reid aim to put the rights of victims ahead of those of offenders. GRANTING jail discounts to offenders who plead guilty and offering early parole to prisoners on life sentences have raised hackles on both sides of the prison debate ever since their introduction several years ago. As the prison population climbed, penal reformers insisted that the policy did nothing to tackle overcrowding levels, now at crisis point.And victims' charities were outraged by the concept that the murderer of a loved one could earn a "discount" on their sentence if they held up their hands for the crime. The debate is deeply polarised and public and policy-making opinion remains sharply divided over the purpose of our prison system. Is it designed for protection or reform? So perhaps inevitably Home Secretary John Reid's announcement, bringing an end to both policies as part of a range of reforms, has failed to fully satisfy campaigners at either end of the spectrum."
