Legal News

Justice Secretary Chris Grayling is to close a loophole to ensure that convicted criminals who carry on offending after being released early from their sentence will have to return to jail to complete the full term.

Currently offenders who are released on licence only have to return to jail for 28 days if they offend while out on licence, regardless of how many times their licence conditions are breached.

This means offenders can commit multiple offences while out on licence and still only have to serve a further 28 days in prison as a result.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, The Justice Secretary said closing the loophole would ensure justice was served in the case of offenders who put up “two fingers” to the system.

The measure is just one of a raft of changes the Justice Secretary is making in a tough stance against crime and repeat offenders.

Last week, the Home Secretary Theresa May announced plans to introduce a new offence which would enable the courts to charge and jail gangland bosses, even if they could not be directly linked with a crime committed by a member of a gang they run.

Gangland bosses will be charged with the offence that they are operating as part of a group set up for the purposes of criminal profit, said Home Secretary Theresa May.

The Justice Secretary said that – like the public – he was “fed up” with offenders who act like the system “doesn’t apply to them”.

“Offenders need to understand there are tough consequences for poor behaviour,” said Mr Grayling. “That’s part of how we tackle re-offending to make sure communities are safer – and that there are fewer victims of crime.”

Offenders released on licence from their jail sentence have to comply with conditions such as abiding by a curfew, wearing an electronic tag and not visiting the scene of a previous crime or coming into contact with victims of their crimes.

Release on licence from a jail term usually occurs after an offender has served a certain amount of their sentence – often half of the jail term imposed by the courts – and only in cases of good behaviour while in prison.

The current regulations mean that offenders can only be returned to jail for longer than 28 days for breaches of their licence if they are considered a significant risk to public safety. When the new rules are introduced, the Parole Board will decide when a prisoner can be released again – and will decide on the basis of whether they can be trusted not to breach their licence conditions. Prisoners deemed unreliable would have to complete their full sentence.

The new regulations will be included in the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill, which has returned to Parliament.

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