Former MP for Montgomery
Will the Home Secretary explain to the House why it has taken 18 years for the Government to produce a Green Paper on dealing with youth crime, and why he did not even act upon the recommendation of his own Home Office research study 161 which revealed some months ago that even a relatively expensive early intervention against youth crime can save an awful lot of money later because young...
I was about to add one comment. I hope that, during the general election campaign, those who may be in the House afterwards will allow the public to be given a sensible and informed debate on the issues surrounding the criminal justice system. Members of Parliament serve the public ill by misleading them about the nature of legislation and the attitudes of other political parties. Every...
In my last gasp in the House, I make no apology for reviving—and, indeed, speaking from the heart of—the Liberal credentials that made me a Liberal and a member of the Liberal Democrat party. When we hear the Labour party talk of being tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime, and when we hear the Home Secretary say, If you don't want the time, don't do the crime, we are not...
By definition, as my hon. Friend says. We can view with great satisfaction the outcome of the negotiations. There will be minimum mandatory sentences. The Home Secretary should recognise that we for one have moved some way towards his position in accepting that there should be new presumptions in sentencing policy. Today, when the judge sentences for a third burglary or a third class A drugs...
Does the hon. Gentleman agree that, these days, it is far more common for defence counsel to include their client's character in order to be able to bring out all the other advantageous facts for the defence that can flow only from the character going in, and that juries these days are very fair about defendants whose character is put in? That is the experience of all of us who practise in...
Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman agree that the Bill will still contain mandatory sentences, and that the courts will have to go through a quite different sentencing exercise in order to reach a sentence that is not of the mandatory period? Does he therefore agree that the Master of the Rolls was somewhat overstating the case when he said that we will return to the present position?
Will the Minister give a clear undertaking that there is no risk of closing any of the valuable community hospitals in Powys?
Does the Attorney-General agree that it is not just the problem of delay that is creating difficulties with youth crime, but the system itself? Does he agree that there is scope for considering, for example, the introduction of an equivalent to the Scottish children's panel system, which has proved much more effective than youth courts in preventing young people from committing additional...
