Topics / Crime, policing and justice
Should the UK send fewer people to prison?
The question is whether the UK, and England and Wales in particular, should imprison fewer people, and if so for which offences. Positions weigh public protection, reoffending, cost, prison capacity and what punishment is for (criminal justice is devolved, so Scotland and Northern Ireland run separate systems).
Positions
- Yes: The UK imprisons more people than public safety requires. Replacing many custodial sentences, especially short ones, with well-resourced community sentences, rehabilitation and treatment would reduce reoffending and cost less.
- Fewer short sentences, longer ones for serious crime: Prison should be reserved for violent and serious offenders, with longer sentences where the seriousness of the crime warrants it. Short sentences for lower-level offending should largely be replaced by demanding community penalties.
- No, more prison capacity: Public safety depends on incapacitating persistent and dangerous offenders, and sentences should reflect the seriousness of crime. The answer to overcrowding is to build more prison capacity, not to send fewer people to prison.