Archive - General Election 2010 - Review of Party Manifesto's

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In the build up to the General Election on 6th May 2010, we have tried to take the key committments of the three main policitical parties manifesto's in relation to crime, criminal justice and people with convictions.

These should give you a good idea of the ideas that each of the parties have on issues that may have a direct impact on you. You may also want to take a look at the parties full Manifesto (links below each parties summary).


Whose policies do you agree with the most?

We have started a discussion thread on the UNLOCK Forum for members to discuss the various aspects of the different policy positions. There is also a poll for you to vote which policies you agree with the post.

You may also want to visit voteforpolicies.org.uk, which is a website where you select the sets of policies which you most agree with in up to 9 different areas (a minimum of 4) - Crime, Democracy, Economy, Education, Environment, Europe, Health / NHS, Immigration and Welfare. The site will then give you a percentage match to a particular parties policies.


What are the policies?


Labour: “Punishment and reform”

• We will expand US-style street teams which use youth pastors and vetted ex-offenders to reach out to disaffected young people
• We will expand Youth Conditional Cautions which focus on rehabilitation and reparation
• We will expand joint working between police and the probation service to supervise prolific young offenders after they get out of prison, and the use of mentors including vetted ex-prisoners to meet offenders ‘at the gate’ so they don’t slip back into crime.
• We have provided over 26,000 more prison places since 1997. There are more criminals in prison – not because crime is rising but because violent and serious offenders are going to prison for longer.
• We will ensure a total of 96,000 prison places by 2014
• We will reduce the number of women, young and mentally ill people in prison
• For offenders not sentenced to prison we have brought in tough new ‘Community Payback’: hard work in public, wearing orange jackets.
• We will extend nationwide the right for local people to vote on what work offenders do to pay back to the communities they have harmed.
• The compensation offenders have to pay to victims has been increased, and we will now ensure victims get this payment up front.
• We will find greater savings in legal aid and the courts system – increasing the use of successful ‘virtual courts’ which move from arrest, to trial, to sentencing in hours rather than weeks or months.
• We will use the tax system to claw back from higher-earning offenders a proportion of the costs of prison.
• Asset confiscation will be a standard principle in sentencing, extended from cash to houses and cars. Every community will have the right to vote on how these assets are used to pay back to the community.

You can also download the full Labour Manifesto 2010


 
Conservatives: “Fight back against crime”

• We will rebuild confidence in the criminal justice system so that people know it is on the side of victims and working for law-abiding people, not criminals.
• We will introduce mobile knife scanners on streets and public transport. Anyone convicted of a knife crime can expect to face a prison sentence.
• We will extend the length of custodial sentences that can be awarded in a Magistrates’ Court from six to twelve months.
• We will implement the Prisoners’ Earnings Act 1996 to allow deductions from the earnings of prisoners in properly paid work to be paid into the Victims’ Fund.
• We will give police the power to identify offenders in order to protect the public and prevent crime
• We will introduce directly-elected individuals who will set policing priorities for local communities
• The Government has failed to build enough [prison] places. Early release will not be introduced again, so we will redevelop the prison estate and increase capacity as necessary to stop it.
• We will introduce a system where the courts can specify minimum and maximum sentences for certain offenders. These prisoners will only be able to leave jail after their minimum sentence is served by having earned their release, not simply by right.
• When offenders leave prison, they will be trained and rehabilitated by private and voluntary sector providers, under supervision.
• The treatment that too many addicts receive just maintains their habits. We will give courts To the power to use abstinence-based Drug Rehabilitation Orders
• To reform our system of rehabilitation further, we will:
  - apply our payment by results reforms to the youth justice system
  - engage with specialist organisations to provide education, mentoring and drug rehabilitation programmes to help young offenders go straight
  - pilot a scheme to create Prison and Rehabilitation Trusts so that just one organisation is responsible for helping to stop a criminal re-offending
• We will collect the DNA of all existing prisoners, those under state supervision who have been convicted of an offence, and anyone convicted of a serious recordable offence
• We will ensure that victims and their families are better informed about the progress of criminal proceedings and release of offenders.
• We will reform the criminal records system so it protects children without destroying trust.
• We believe that people working in positions of trust with children should go through a proper criminal record check. But Labour’s new system goes too far. So we will review the criminal records and ‘vetting and barring’ regime and scale it back to common sense levels
• We will introduce a series of early intervention measures, including grounding orders, to allow the police to use instant sanctions to deal with anti-social behaviour without criminalising young people unnecessarily.

You can also download the full Conservative Manifesto 2010



Liberal Democrats: “Making the justice system work to rehabilitate criminals and reduce crime”

• Once a criminal has been caught, it is vital that the punishment they are given helps to turn them away from crime, and set them back on the straight and narrow
• Too many politicians have talked tough, meting out ever-longer prison sentences, but doing far too little to tackle reoffending and to stop crime happening in the first place. As a result, the government is spending more and more on prisons, but those released from them are as likely as ever to commit more crimes
• We will make prisoners work and contribute from their prison wages to a compensation fund for victims.
• As resources allow, we will increase the number of hours prisoners spend in education and training.
• We will introduce a presumption against short-term sentences of less than six months – replaced by rigorously enforced community sentences which evidence shows are better at cutting reoffending.
• We will move offenders who are drug addicts or mentally ill into more appropriate secure accommodation.
• We will, as a consequence of these changes, be able to cancel the Government’s billion-pound prison building programme
• We will give people a direct say in how petty criminals and those who engage in anti-social behaviour are punished by setting up Neighbourhood Justice Panels (NJPs), like the one run by Liberal Democrats in Somerset where 95 per cent of offenders have been turned away from further crimes
• We will champion restorative justice programmes, like NJPs, which make offenders confront their behaviour and are more successful at reducing crime than traditional forms of punishment
• Dealing with the deficit: Savings will include reforming prisons, including through reducing the number of short sentences
• We will reform the process of criminal record checking so that volunteers need only one record that is portable, rather than multiple checks for each activity
• We will scrap the Government’s plan to criminalise those who leave education between ages 16 and 18
• We will pay for 3,000 more police on the beat, affordable because we are cutting other spending, such as scrapping pointless ID cards
• We will give local people a real say over their police force through the direct election of police authorities.
• We will ensure that financial resources, and police and court time, are not wasted on the unnecessary prosecution and imprisonment of drug users and addicts; the focus instead should be on getting addicts the treatment they need. Police should concentrate their efforts on organised drug pushers and gangs.

You can also download the full Liberal Democrat Manifesto 2010



Not a fan of the main political parties?


Links to some of the other parties manifesto's are below:

The Green Party Manifesto

UK Independence Party (UKIP) Manifesto



What to do next


1. We have started a discussion thread on the UNLOCK Forum for members to discuss the various aspects of the different policy positions. There is also a poll for you to vote which policies you agree with the post.

2. You may also want to visit voteforpolicies.org.uk, which is a website where you select the sets of policies which you most agree with in up to 9 different areas (a minimum of 4) - Crime, Democracy, Economy, Education, Environment, Europe, Health / NHS, Immigration and Welfare. The site will then give you a percentage match to a particular parties policies.



If you have any questions, email chris.stacey@unlock.org.uk