Criminals to be pressured to attend sentencing hearings or face longer in jail below govt plans

A brand new regulation will pressure criminals to attend their sentencings in court docket, with the offenders dealing with longer behind bars in the event that they nonetheless refuse to sit down within the dock.

The authorities confirmed its plans to introduce the reform on Wednesday, promising to create a brand new energy for judges to make the order.

The change may also permit custody officers to make use of “reasonable force” to make offenders seem, “meaning every effort will be made for victims and their families to see justice delivered”.

However, the timetable for the laws to be introduced in is just not but clear.

And the choice on whether or not to make the order will stay with judges, whereas jail employees and custody officers can be left to determine whether or not the usage of pressure is cheap and proportionate in every case.

Politicians have touted the concept earlier than, with former justice secretary Dominic Raab outlining his intentions again in April after the assassin of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, Thomas Cashman, refused to look.

But this newest announcement comes after the case of Lucy Letby, the neo-natal nurse convicted of murdering seven infants and making an attempt to homicide six different infants, who grew to become the newest legal to not attend her personal sentencing.

The incident noticed requires laws, particularly from bereaved households, rising louder, with one relative of a sufferer of Letby’s describing her refusal to come back to the dock as a “final act of wickedness from a coward”.

Announcing the reform, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak mentioned: “It is unacceptable that a few of the nation’s most horrendous criminals have refused to face their victims in court docket.

“They cannot and should not be allowed to take the coward’s way out.

“That’s why we’re giving judges the facility to order vile offenders to attend their sentencing hearings, with those that refuse dealing with being pressured into the dock or spending longer behind bars.”

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Justice Secretary Alex Chalk added: “Every time a cowardly legal hides from justice by refusing to look within the dock for his or her sentencing it’s one other insult to their victims and their households.

“Our reforms will give judges the power to order offenders to come to court to hear the impact of their crimes directly from victims, so that they begin their sentences with society’s condemnation ringing in their ears.”