Ministers say early guilty pleas save victims from having to relive their ordeals Plans to halve the jail terms of rapists who plead guilty early are “irresponsible” and “unworkable”, Labour’s former solicitor general says.
Vera Baird QC added her voice to growing criticism of the sentencing proposals for England and Wales.
Shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan said the government’s own commissioner for victims and witnesses, Louise Casey, thought the idea was “bonkers”.
Ministers say early pleas save victims from reliving their ordeals in court.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman added: “It also avoids the costs to the police, CPS and courts of cracked trials.
“There is a long standing practice of sentence discounts being applied to those who enter an early guilty plea.
“The government believes an increased discount for a guilty plea at the earliest opportunity, and a lower one for later pleas, would encourage defendants to plead guilty early on, sparing more victims and witnesses from the trauma of the trial process.”
At present, a defendant entering an early guilty plea can earn up to a third off their sentence.
Former Labour MP Vera Baird QC told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the standard sentence for rape started at five years, which was “not an enormously high sentence already for an injurious crime”.
“How on earth will giving a half off a sentence help to protect the public?”
Jack Straw Former Labour justice secretary
“If you are talking about halving it to two-and-a-half years and then a person gets out halfway through their sentence on licence which is usual, then we are talking about sentences of 15 months which have no regard at all for the gravity of the offence and gives no time for rehabilitation or training,” she said.
The current discount of a third for an early guilty plea was the maximum and not automatic, she added.
She went on to say the plans “would not work” in rape cases.
“While we know that if rape complainants get to court, the conviction rate is quite good these days, there is a massive drop out between a complaint and a conviction in the early stages of the investigation, if people do not think the police are supporting them,” she said.
“Defendants know that the chances of a conviction from the outset when they have to tender a plea to get this discount is not that large. I think they will chance their arm.
“And of course, the impact on the rape complainant and having what happened to them so small valued, is likely to deter more people from going through the awful process of having to talk about intimate things in a public court.”
The plans, announced by junior Justice Minister Crispin Blunt in the Commons on Tuesday, were immediately greeted with criticism.
Former Labour justice secretary Jack Straw said: “At present, a defendant entering an early guilty plea will earn up to a third off his sentence that would otherwise apply.
“The government is proposing that in place of that the discount should be a half, opposed by the judiciary and many others. How on earth will giving a half off a sentence help to protect the public?”
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