- Quote
- My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Henley, for allowing us to discuss this matter again. I shall not tempt fate by describing why I said we were on a roll when we debated it last time. The noble Lord is right that the measure comes as a result of the review of prisons by the noble Lord, Lord Carter, and it is one of the steps that we would like to take to help manage demand for prison places. We have discussed prisons for some weeks now, and noble Lords will know of the challenge of the current demand for prison places. The Carter proposals are a mixture of an expansion of places over the next few years, together with what is described as demand management. Our proposal is one of those initiatives to reduce demand for prison places. I confirm to the noble Lord that to qualify for the curfew credit, defendants must have been subject to an electronically monitored curfew for at least nine hours per day to reflect the position that being subject to a curfew does not equal a deprivation of liberty, whereas remand to custody clearly does. Each curfew day will provide potential credit against sentence of no more than half a day. The court will be required to take into account the defendant’s compliance with the curfew when deciding the period to be credited. The credit will not be made on the basis that the defendants have been deprived of their liberty; they will be credited for the fact that they have complied with their bail conditions while having their liberty restricted on a preventive rather than punitive basis. The credit will be made on the basis that even though being under a curfew is less arduous than being remanded in custody, both are intended as a preventive measure designed to secure the judicial process rather than to punish the offender. The provisions will apply only to defendants bailed under the Bail Act, as amended by the Bill, who are subject to an electronically monitored curfew bail condition of at least nine hours per day. I know that the noble Lord, Lord Henley, feels that this is a reward to watch “Match of the Day”, but it is not. The curfew times and hours will be decided by the court, which will take into account the nature of the bail represented by the defendant. Of course, the curfew may be imposed for periods when the defendant is considered more likely to offend or to interfere with witnesses. Such periods might often be during the evening and into the early hours when defendants can get into trouble after a night out at the pub. That is why typical curfew hours tend to be overnight. The curfew can be tailored to cover other risks. For example, the court could curfew a football hooligan during match times or a shoplifter during peak shopping hours. On the question of a perverse incentive, we believe that this is a sensible preventive measure that will provide an incentive to those remanded on bail who are subject to an electronically monitored curfew to comply with their conditions. Of course in relation to the perverse incentive that is where I would rely on the discretion of the sentencer to arrive at the right decision. Given all our debates on the question of the discretion of the judiciary, surely the noble Lord, Lord Henley, could rely on that.
- Time
- 15:10
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath)Labour
Lord HenleyConservative
Baroness Butler-SlossCrossbench
Lord Lloyd of BerwickCrossbench
Lord BachLabour