Violent Offenders Early Release 2025-06-03
2025-06-03
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Response quality
Questions & Answers
Q1
Partial Answer
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Context
MP Joy Morrissey addresses concerns about the early release of violent offenders, citing risks to victim safety.
The Victims’ Commissioner says that the early release of prisoners risks victim safety, so will the Lord Chancellor explain why she is putting violent offenders ahead of victims?
That is not the case. What would be failing victims is if our criminal justice system got to the point of collapse and we did not have prison places for violent offenders. This Government are getting on with reforming our criminal justice system. We are putting victims at the heart of it to protect them, and are making sure that we never run out of prison places again.
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Assessment & feedback
Did not directly address why early release policies may seem prioritising offenders over victims
Response accuracy
Q2
Partial Answer
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MP Esther McVey references a specific case where the murderer made a disclosure but no remains were found, highlighting loopholes in the Prisoners (Disclosure of Information about Victims) Act 2020.
The Prisoners (Disclosure of Information about Victims) Act 2020, otherwise known as Helen’s law, should prevent the early release of murderers who do not disclose the location of their victims’ remains. However, there are loopholes in the law in cases where the murderer makes a disclosure but no remains are found, as happened in the case of Jean Taylor’s daughter, Chantel. Will the Minister meet me and Jean Taylor, who founded the charity Families Fighting for Justice, to close those loopholes?
I thank the right hon. Member for her question. All my sympathies go to her constituent. If she wants to write to me with the details, I will definitely look into the case and come back to her.
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Assessment & feedback
Did not commit to a direct meeting but offered to review the case upon receipt of more information
Response accuracy
Q3
Partial Answer
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MP Andy Slaughter raises concerns about the progression model of sentencing recommended by the independent sentencing review, which may lead to less clarity for victims about when perpetrators leave prison.
The previous Government released prisoners in an indiscriminate way. This Government have developed a more organised approach, but the progression model of sentencing, recommended by the independent sentencing review and welcomed by the Government, could mean less clarity for victims about when perpetrators leave prison. Given the concern expressed by victims’ groups, what safeguards and resources will the Minister put in place to prepare victims and assure them of their safety?
I thank the Chair of the Justice Committee for that important question. It is vital that victims be notified. That is why we are boosting probation and ensuring that victim liaison officers have that vital information. He will be aware that in our Victims and Courts Bill, which has been presented to this House, we are introducing a new victim notification scheme, and a dedicated helpline to ensure that victims get the vital information that they so desperately need.
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Assessment & feedback
Did not address specific concerns about clarity for victims but highlighted initiatives in Victims and Courts Bill
Response accuracy
Q4
Partial Answer
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MP Matt Bishop discusses the challenges faced by victims' families in making their victim impact statements and the need for autonomy.
In March, I met people from the Justice for Victims campaign group. One family told me that their young daughter was killed by an unlicensed, uninsured driver. They were asked to alter their victim impact statement several times to avoid offending the defendant and were denied the chance to fully express their grief. That experience is shared by many others. Will the Justice Secretary take steps to ensure that victims’ families have full autonomy over their statements, so that they can express their experiences freely in court?
I thank my hon. Friend for that question. I also had the privilege of meeting those families in March, and I heard their concerns. I know personally how important victim personal statements are to ensuring that victims’ and families’ voices are heard. I do not want there to be any circumstances in which they feel unable to make a statement. However, these statements are considered evidence, and the rules of admissibility apply, as they do to all witness statements.
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Assessment & feedback
Did not commit to changes for full autonomy but acknowledged importance of victim impact statements
Response accuracy
Q5
Partial Answer
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MP Robert Jenrick raises concerns about the early release of certain offenders, questioning if the choices are making the public safer.
Can I first say how sorry I was to hear that the Minister was the subject of intimidation and an attack on her office? I think all of us across the House would like to wish her and her staff well, and to say how pleased we are that the vile individuals behind this have been caught and punished. In September, the Justice Secretary designed an early release scheme for prisoners. She let out Lawson Natty, who supplied the machete used to kill a 14-year-old, and Adam Andrews, who shook a baby so violently that he was left blind and paralysed. She is now halving prison sentences for killers and rapists, while Lucy Connolly remains behind bars for a reprehensible but swiftly deleted tweet. Does the Justice Secretary really believe that her choices are making the public safer?
This Government are making choices to keep this country safer, and are cleaning up the mess left after the previous Government led our criminal justice system to rack and ruin. They left this Government to make the difficult decisions, when we came into office, that were necessary to prevent the total collapse of our criminal justice system.
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Assessment & feedback
Did not address specific concerns about safety but highlighted actions taken by the current government compared to previous one
Response accuracy
Q6
Partial Answer
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MP Josh Babarinde highlights the previous government's refusal to exempt domestic abusers from their early release scheme and asks for a commitment regarding future identifiers.
Between October 2023 and June 2024, the last Conservative Government released 10,083 offenders under their early release scheme, and refused to exempt domestic abusers from early release, to the horror of survivors and victims charities. The Government have made no such exclusion from their early release scheme so far, but they have the chance to put that right via the new domestic abuse identifier that they are introducing after lots of campaigning by the Liberal Democrats and others. Will the Minister today give survivors and victims charities a commitment that as soon as the identifier comes into force, it will be used to exempt domestic abusers from early release, in the way that the last Government failed to?
I thank the hon. Member for pointing out the failures of the previous Government, and their refusal to exempt domestic abusers and offenders who have committed violence against women and girls from their early release scheme; this Government ensured that measures were in place to ensure that victims were kept safe.
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Assessment & feedback
Did not provide a direct commitment but highlighted the previous government's failure
Response accuracy