UK prime minister Boris Johnson ordered an urgent review of Britain’s sentencing policy on Monday, which aims to tackle violent and sexual offences across the country, the UK government announced on Monday.
The review aims to protect the public “from the most dangerous criminals” and find if they were “serving sentences that truly reflect the severity of their crimes”.
The review will look into whether Britain’s laws should be changed to make sure that Britain’s most violent and serious criminals are not let out after serving partial sentences, in addition to tackling the "cycle" of crime in the UK and stopping the release of violent offenders from serving partial sentences by increasing their sentences.
Well after years of listening to those who knew nothing about policing, who raved about soft or no policing at all being the answer to crime, at last @BorisJohnson and @patel4witham have turned the tide on criminals. Those that know have been listened to. Lives will now be saved pic.twitter.com/u6VXs6pcZy
— Sgt Harry Tangye (@DC_ARVSgt) August 12, 2019
Mr Johnson has requested the UK government review team to report to him with recommendations later this autumn, the statement read, adding that the PM will host a group of leaders in the police, probation and prison sectors to hold talks on reducing crime across the country.
Dangerous criminals “must be kept off the streets,” Mr Johnson said, adding that they should be “serving the sentences they deserve”.
"Victims want to see it, the public want to see it and I want to see it,” he said.
He added: “To ensure confidence in the system, the punishment must truly fit the crime. We have all seen examples of rapists and murderers let out too soon or people offending again as soon as they’re released.
🗣️ Prime Minister @BorisJohnson: "Today we're announcing another 10,000 places in our prisons; a big building program for prisons."
— Conservatives (@Conservatives) August 11, 2019
📰👉 Read Boris's article on our plan to drive down crime across the country: https://t.co/inNjUardDO pic.twitter.com/HHox3zmUis
“This ends now,” Mr Johnson said, adding that he wanted violent offenders “caught, locked up, punished and properly rehabilitated”.
Later today the Prime Minister will host leaders from the police, probation and prison sectors to discuss how to cut crime and improve the criminal justice system.
But some MPs have slammed his crackdown as result of six years of "Tory austerity" and that the Brits could not "trust" the PM on crime.
— Louise Haigh MP (@LouHaigh) August 11, 2019
The news comes as the newly appointed Prime Minister launched a crackdown on violent criminals last month in a bid to tackle knife crime, with the newly appointed PM injecting a further £85m on Monday into the Crown Prosecution Service to help better manage caseloads over the next few years, as well as an additional £2.5bn for 10,000 extra prison places, including the new Full Sutton prison. Mr Johnson has pledged to recruit a further 20,000 police officers over three years to tackle the UK’s rise in crime, as well as grant all 43 police forces across England and Wales stop and search powers.
Along with reforms across the justice sector, Boris Johnson poured £1.8bn in investments in the UK's NHS for building and refurbishing hospitals, with aims to boost public healthcare spending to £20bn per year by 2023. The PM also said he would build a £250m artificial intelligence 'NHS X' system aimed at improving patient healthcare and early detection of diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's, as well as crack down on senior doctors refusing shifts in order to circumvent tax contribution penalties.
