Further supplementary written evidence
from the Northern Ireland Prison Service
SUMMARY OF
PROPOSED SENTENCING
REFORMS
Last December, the Northern Ireland Criminal
Justice Minister, David Hanson, announced his intention to bring
forward legislative proposals to significantly reform the sentencing
framework in Northern Ireland.
Public protection sentences
The proposals will introduce Indeterminate and
Extended Public Protection sentences to Northern Ireland (IPPs
and EPPs). These sentences are modelled upon those created in
England and Wales in the Criminal Justice Act 2003. These sentences
will be given to offenders who commit specific violent or sexual
offences and where the court judges there to be a significant
risk of the offender causing "serious harm" to members
of the public.
— The IPP is an indeterminate sentence
available for offences with a maximum penalty of 10 years or more—the
offender shall be released on licence at the discretion of a parole
board mechanism.
— The EPP is a determinate sentence
available for offences with a maximum penalty of less than 10
years—the offender shall become eligible for release after
serving half of his custodial sentence, but shall only be released
before completing his custodial sentence at the discretion of
a parole board mechanism. After release, the offender will remain
on licence for a set period.
A new form of standard determinate sentence
A new form of standard determinate sentence—based
upon the successful Custody Probation Order—will also be
introduced. However, unlike the Custody Probation Order, which
requires the offender's consent, the new standard determinate
sentence will be non-consensual.
— For longer sentences, the sentencing
court will set both a custody period and a period of supervision
in the community, when sentencing the offender. The period of
community supervision must be at least 50% of the entire sentence.
Supervision will be carried out by the Probation Service.
— For shorter sentences, the sentencing
court may choose not to set a period of supervision. The offender
may instead be released at the half-way point of the sentence
on a standard licence regime.
Non-custodial disposals
The proposals will also introduce a range of
non-custodial disposals to deal with offenders, including:
— Electronic tagging provisions—to
allow monitoring of offenders in the community;
— A Conditioned Early Release (CER)
scheme to make determinate sentence prisoners—apart from
sex offenders and those sentenced to Extended public protection
sentences—eligible for early release from prison on curfew.
— A number of measures to increase
the use of curfew as: an effective element of bail, a licence
condition, and as a condition of a Community Sentence.
— The commencement of the legislation
to allow for the use of Drug Treatment and Testing Orders as an
alternative to custody for those offenders whose drug addiction
is the cause of their offending.
— A non-custodial sentence for fine
defaulters.
End of 50% remission
There will be no automatic 50% remission for
any of the new sentences. Offenders will instead be released on
licence and will be subject to recall (which will be an executive
decision). Recall decisions will be reviewed by a parole board
mechanism.
Support mechanisms
Two new bodies will be created as a consequence
of the new sentencing framework: an Executive Recall Unit (ERU),
and a parole board mechanism. The ERU will be responsible for
deciding whether to recall offenders who have been released on
licence—the ERU will base its decision on information supplied
by the Probation Service, the Police, and other relevant bodies.
The parole body will be responsible for reviewing discretionary
release cases and reviewing executive recall decisions.
Northern Ireland Prison Service
April 2007
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