Lib Dems: Tough On Crime?

Chris Huhne proves once again that the Lib Dems are never, ever going to be the party of government:

Sentences are getting longer. But it is not working. Reoffending remains sky-high.

Nine out of every 10 young men sentenced to a first short custodial sentence get out of prison and commit more crime.

How about we stop letting them out so quickly, then, Chris?

That’s when we do actually put them behind bars in the first place.

Yet the politics of fear dictates that both the Tories and Labour are pledging to send more people to prison for longer just because it sounds tough.

Err, no, not just because it sounds tough. Because the alternative isn’t working.

Liberal Democrats would not build more prisons. We are the only party brave enough to suggest that rigorous community sentences are more effective than short prison sentences.

/headdesk

Would that be those community punishments that get flouted in a third of instances, Chris?

Instead of posturing on penalties, the Liberal Democrats will focus on proven methods of catching criminals and cutting crime. We will put criminal justice on an evidence-based footing by establishing a National Crime Reduction Agency to test properly what cuts crime.

Another government department..?

That’s your grand plan..?

It will do for policing and criminal justice policy what the National Institute for Clinical Excellence does for the health service.

Oh. Right.

And we can all see what a bang-up job that’s done, can’t we?