These are the notes I made to answer any structured question on the early release of prisoners. They cover the law as it stands, with some key arguments for and against. These are the final notes I made, and using them I went on to achieve a good First in the exam.
Early Release essay
- Many problems with early release of prisoners.
- One argument is that doing this is unfair on the public and that ‘real time
sentencing’ would be a better option, where the sentence given by a judge is
the same as the time spent in prison.
- However this essay will argue to the contrary- that early release is a vital
mechanism that not only has benefits to prisoners themselves but to society as
a whole.
- However in order for it to work successfully, vital reforms are needed, as will
later be discussed.
As it stands the majority of prisoners will be released before the end of their
sentences.
- The CJA 2003 gave unconditional automatic early release to all those serving
less than 12 months in custody and supervised early release for all those
serving determinate sentences over 12 months.
- Those under 4 years eligible for HDC up to 135 before half way point of
sentence.
- EDS replaced IPP. Parole board at two thirds.
- Indeterminate, application to parole board at tariff.
- Whole life tariff.
Good
- Despite the changes to prison sentences over the years however the prison
population has continued to soar dramatically, from around 42k in 1992 to more
than 85k today.
- While this has been recognised as being a problem that needs to be solved, just
deserts policy has meant that changes to legislation and sentencing guidelines
have been largely ineffective.
- Hence to some, early release is a good way to help control prison numbers, with
Cavadino et al describing it as the penal system’s ‘safety valve’.
- What makes it attractive to the government is it does not rely on the judiciary to
implement, instead it is exercised administratively by the executive in a
pragmatic fashion.
- One criticism of this is that it should be up to sentencers to decide on who goes
to prison and that by allowing the executive to alter this violates natural justice.
o However while these are legitimate concerns, the current system clearly
does not have the resources to sustain the amount of people being sent to
jail as a result of sentencing policy and by restricting the power of the
executive to influence this the system would not be able to cope.
- Aside of administrative purposes however the current system can also be
successful for other reasons.
- Firstly the release of prisoners on license allows them to reintegrate back into
the community, instead of being released ‘cold’ at the end of their sentences.
This allows offenders to restart their lives such as see their family or attend job
interviews, whilst being supervised will help them not to reoffend.
- For prisoners released on a discretionary basis the system can have other
positive motives.
- One attractive argument is that it aids rehabilitation of offenders and gives
them hope.
o Hope itself has been considered as an important factor to consider,
particularly in cases of prisoners serving whole-life tariffs. Without hope
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