Criminals to be forced to attend sentencing hearings under new plans
manchestereveningnews.co.ukThe government will introduce new legislation to ensure criminals are present in court during their sentence hearings. The new policy was announced during the King's Speech earlier today (Tuesday), which presented a wide range of government priorities for the new Parliamentary session.
The Criminal Justice Bill aims to reform the UK's criminal justice system and provide new powers to the police and courts. This includes ensuring criminals attend their sentence hearings, statutory sentencing for those involved in child grooming gangs, potentially impose a mandatory duty for those who work with children to report sexual abuse concerns, allowing the police-use of polygraph tests on terrorists and sexual offenders and more.
The King told Parliament that the government "will act to keep communities safe from crime, anti-social behaviour, terrorism and illegal migration”.
He added: “A bill will be brought forward to ensure tougher sentences for the most serious offenders and increase the confidence of victims. READ MORE: Martyn's Law set to be passed this year after King's Speech mention READ MORE: Smoking and vape ban for next generation confirmed in King's Speech "My ministers will introduce legislation to empower police forces and the criminal justice system to prevent new or complex crimes, such as digital-enabled crime and child sexual abuse, including grooming.” Alongside this, the Sentencing Bill will be introduced to see serious sexual offenders serve their prison sentence completely while courts will be required to impose whole life orders for crimes where a lifelong sentence is the starting point.
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