Conservative Party officials will spend the months ahead of next year’s election trying to persuade voters they will be tough on crime. Yet by the government’s own admission, its plan to scrap short sentences will keep thousands of shoplifters out of jail.
It is already so rare for thieves to be apprehended by police officers that major retailers say criminals feel they have a “licence to shoplift.” Public order has degraded to such an extent that businesses that can afford it are turning to private detectives instead.
Even those who are caught and taken to court will now be less likely to end up behind bars as ministers attempt to tackle prison overcrowding. A new bill will see sentences of below 12 months replaced with suspended sentences under which convicted criminals will carry out community work.
Prisons Minister Edward Argar said that in 2022, 5,289 shoplifters were given sentences of below 12 months. These accounted for more than one in eight offenders who will no longer face a proper sentence. The next most common offences that will soon no longer be given prison sentences were common assault and battery (3,071) and assault by beating of an emergency worker (2,233).
Officials unveiled these figures at the same time as Policing Minister Chris Philp said he wants a “new zero-tolerance approach to tackling shoplifting”:
It is a blight on our high streets and communities and puts the livelihoods of traders at risk. I am determined to drive forward change.
Labour is expectedly unconvinced, arguing that workers will continue to be at risk of shoplifters who have been handed a “get out of jail free card” with these sentencing updates. There is, however, no indication that the situation will improve under the expected government of Sir Keir Starmer.