Alasdair Palmer has identified a bit of a problem with the crime policy of the new coalition. Basically, none has been agreed as far as we know.

The central problem he [Cameron] faces is that, on crime, the Tories and the Lib Dems have diametrically opposing views. Consult the Tory manifesto and you will find a promise to build more prison places, and thereby avoid a repeat of Labour’s early release of 80,000 criminals to reduce overcrowding. The Conservatives think that prison works – at least to the extent that criminals who are under lock and key cannot commit further offences.

The Lib Dems, however, take precisely the opposite view. They say “the evidence shows” that community sentences are better at reducing reoffending than short prison sentences. So they don’t just want to release more criminals early in order to put them on community sentences – they would rather not send them to prison at all. Their manifesto adds that they would cancel any prison-building programme.

The coalition cannot simply split the difference: the parties’ philosophies are contradictory. But a decision has to be made on prison-building. So one of the parties will have to adopt (or at least permit) a policy which explicitly contradicts its manifesto.

The full article is here.

Posted by James Bartholomew • Indexed in Behaviour & Crime

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