Government drops pledge to repeal Human Rights Act
Last updated at 16:52 20 July 2006
The Government today ruled out repealing or reforming the Human Rights Act as part of its action plan to "rebalance" the criminal justice system.
Home Secretary John Reid announced a range of measures to toughen sentences for criminals and confirmed plans to build 8,000 new prison places.
See also...
• Longer sentences for dangerous criminals
But a major new document revealed for the first time that ministers have decided not to amend the controversial human rights legislation which some critics have accused of putting criminals first.
The paper said: "We have reviewed the Human Rights Act, looking in particular at the way it impacts on the criminal justice system.
"The Government does not accept the argument that we should repeal the act."
The Act provided a "powerful framework" to set up a system which takes a commonsense approach to protecting the rights of communities.
Instead of knocking down the Act, ministers will devise a range of schemes to make existing laws work better.
Legislation may be introduced, if necessary, to ensure that protecting the public from dangerous offenders is always the top priority.
Earlier this year, probation watchdog Andrew Bridges revealed convicted rapist Anthony Rice was freed to kill because the parole board and probation officers put his human rights ahead of their duties to protect the public.
Today's Home Office action plan said practical "myth-busting" advice will be issued to agencies so they do not misinterpret human rights laws.
The Government will also continue to fight rulings from the European Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg which it believes prevents it from applying the law properly.
Two major planks of sentencing policy which were introduced only last year will be reformed under Mr Reid's proposals.
Under the Criminal Justice Act 2003, which came into force in April last year, prisoners can be released halfway through a life term.
The document said: "We believe it is wrong to automatically apply this principle to 'halving' the sentence tariffs for dangerous offenders.
"We will consult on a range of options for ending this convention and will give the courts the discretion to make dangerous offenders serve a higher proportion of their tariff."
The same Act created the Sentencing Guidelines Council (SGC) which introduced rules for judges which say an offender who pleads guilty at an early stage should get a one third discount on their sentence.
These rules only came into force in January last year.
But today's package says the current set-up is "too restrictive".
It said: "We want judges to have more discretion, so that they no longer have to reduce the minimum sentence they impose by up to a third, regardless of the circumstances.
"In future, judges should be able to reduce or remove the discount for an early guilty plea altogether where the evidence against the defendant is overwhelming."
Discounts will also be abolished for criminals who have to go to the Court of Appeal when the Attorney General believes they have been given an unduly lenient sentence.
Currently, they get a discount to reflect the "anxiety" of being returned to court - a measure already abolished for murder cases which will now be extended to all life sentences and limited in other cases.
Ministers will also explore whether the process used by the SGC to come up with guidelines can be simplified, and give the Home Secretary more input.
The programme also proposed to roll out so-called community justice, based on a successful pilot programme in Merseyside.
More such centres will be built in England and Wales, it said.
The Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, will announce the areas shortly, it added.
An existing scheme to give local people more of a say in the unpaid work carried out by offenders will also be extended.
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