Lisa Townsend is the Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner for Surrey.
It is not controversial to say that everyone – at least within our Conservative family – believes that those who commit a crime should receive a form of punishment, whether that’s a financial penalty, community-based restorative justice or, in the case of more serious crimes, a custodial sentence.
It’s the right outcome for the victim, for society, and often for the offender themselves, and acts as both a deterrent for future crimes and, hopefully, to help them get any support they may need for issues such as a drug or alcohol addiction.
The Government too wants to see more offenders caught, and has tasked police forces with detecting more crimes and arresting more suspects. At the launch of Right Care Right Person last year Chris Philp, the policing minister, made clear that he expects the one million hours of police time expected to be saved by no longer spending so much time on mental health cases to be used in solving crime.
I’m incredibly proud of the work that Tim De Meyer, Chief Constable of Surrey Police, has been doing since he started almost a year ago. Thanks to his commitment to really listening to victims, and focusing on what residents have told us they want to see, Surrey Police is now bigger and better than before I became PCC in 2021.
At a time when policing is suffering a loss of public confidence, officers in Surrey are working harder and smarter, and it’s showing in our communities, with offenders such as those orchestrating county lines drug dealing taken off the streets.
While policing is the very visible front line of this effort to ensure justice for victims and society, the wider criminal justice system often has an impact on our ability to deliver this as swiftly as we would like.
It was a pleasure therefore to join ConservativeHome’s criminal justice conference last month, which brought together key ministers and others from across the court and prison systems to discuss difficult topics: prisons are full, courts are understaffed leading to delays, technology isn’t being utilised as well as it could be and, ultimately, victims are let down.
My own force’s determination to drive up arrests (and therefore convictions) has led to warnings from partners on the criminal justice board I chair that the wider CPS and court system will struggle to accommodate the extra suspects the chief constable and I are determined to remove from Surrey’s streets.
I have been outspoken in my criticism of the CPS. But they too are facing problems: a lack of barristers, a workforce that struggled during Covid and, in my view, too many people working from home. I understand too the dilemma courts are facing. Fewer barristers means fewer becoming judges, pre-Covid backlogs persist, and technology (which is rarely cheap) isn’t being implemented as quickly as anyone would like.
But the simple fact remains that suspects and offenders are either in the criminal justice system, or they are living without penalty in society – and I know where I would rather they were.
Not all criminal acts warrant or deserve a custodial sentence. Most, in fact, do not; a speeding fine or community service will be more appropriate for many. In Surrey, we have a history of using a high number of ‘out of court disposals’ and for many offenders (and their victims) this will be the right course of action. Certainly, many of our criminal justice partners would prefer this.
But we must not throw away centuries of criminal justice practice because we are worried about court backlogs.
There may well be a good reason why someone has committed a crime, such as poverty, desperation, or a threat of violence. But that is not for the police to determine, and compassion is better exercised by the courts where it is appropriate to do so, including in the handing down of a non-custodial remedy.
What would be the consequences for our criminal justice system if (I believe when) the police get better at catching criminals? There would be more rape detections, leading to fewer repeat offences. Likewise with burglary, a crime that when successfully detected and charged usually leads to a reduction in overall burglaries in a community.
County lines organisers would be behind bars and the young people who form their supply chain would be free from the violence and intimidation they so often experience. Traffickers of vulnerable women and children would be stopped. Those from other countries who commit crime in the UK – including the Albanian gangs we often see involved in keyless car thefts – would be sent back home.
The criminal justice system needs to be looking ahead at how it can create more capacity, not just in our prisons but throughout the journey from police cell to prison cell – and beyond. Technology will play an important part, but it won’t get young people into the criminal bar, or make up for a lack of judges. As PCC I invest heavily in prevention and that clearly has a role to play too, as do the needs of victims.
We all have an interest in a well-functioning justice system, and I hope that the determination I saw from ministers at the conference last month leads to the necessary action.
The post Lisa Townsend: We must not let court backlogs deter us from catching and prosecuting criminals appeared first on Conservative Home.
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Author: Lisa Townsend
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