Specialist courts focused on breaking the addictions of prolific offenders are “efficient” and “a good idea”, the head of the government’s sentencing review has said as he suggested they could be rolled out across England and Wales.
In an interview with the Guardian, David Gauke praised “very encouraging” pilots of intensive supervision courts which steer recidivists to engage repeatedly with judges, probation officers and drug counsellors.
His words are the first major indication of Gauke’s direction as he draws up plans to rip up the current norm of sending criminals to prison without addressing the causes behind the crimes. His proposals will be presented to ministers in the spring.
Prolific offenders, defined as someone with 16 or more previous convictions, often engage in drug-driven crimes such as theft, shoplifting or drug dealing.
According to Ministry of Justice figures, prolific offenders made up about a tenth (500,000) of all offenders in 2020-21 but were responsible for nearly half (10.5m) of all sentencings before the courts.
The intervention comes as part of a Guardian examination of the courts crisis in England and Wales. In the interview, conducted seven weeks into Gauke’s review, he also:
Supported proposals for an intermediate court between magistrates and crown court, in which the bench consists of a district judge sitting with two magistrates.
Warned ministers and opposition leaders to stop making promises to increase sentences for offenders.
Called for ministers to consider inviting third sector organisations to become involved in the provision of drug treatment.
Gauke, who served as Conservative justice secretary under Theresa May, visited the intensive supervision court (ISC) for female offenders in Birmingham on Thursday, one of three pilots across England and Wales.
Offenders are asked to return regularly to the court to check they are abiding by the requirements of their community sentence. Probation officers, staff from a women’s centre and members of a mental health team are also on hand to discuss the offenders and their progress, he said.
“The test of course, is, does this succeed? Does this help reduce reoffending? Does it allow the women to reintegrate into society? It is a relatively early stage, but I think the signs are very encouraging,” Gauke said. “We were definitely interested in this in the context of hyper-prolific offenders, not just women.
“The process was pretty efficient in terms of getting through a lot of business very quickly, because you have got the people there. There is clearly a very strong argument for it.”
He plans to discuss ISCs with the Treasury, he said, adding that he will first draw up a cost-benefit analysis before making any formal recommendation.
“As a former chief secretary to the Treasury I’m very conscious of value for money arguments … We have to remember that the annual cost of somebody in prison is £52,000 a year. If you can find ways in which you can reduce the number of people going to prison, that would justify investment in particular areas such as this,” he said.
Asked for his views on intermediate courts, Gauke said he hoped the idea would be looked at “very closely” by ministers. Such courts would sit between a magistrates and crown court, with a district judge sitting alongside two magistrates instead of a jury hearing the evidence. The idea, designed to speed up justice and tackle a massive courts backlog, was also mooted by the former lord chief justice Lord Thomas.
“The current system is not delivering what we need. It’s not fair on victims, and indeed is not fair on the accused very often. I hope it will be looked at very closely,” he said.
Gauke’s review was launched by Shabana Mahmood, the new justice secretary, amid growing public recognition that longer sentences are leading to overcrowded prisons and failing to rehabilitate offenders.
Gauke urged politicians from all parties to resist further inflation of sentences. On Friday, tougher sentences for jealous ex-partners and murderers who strangle victims were announced.
“I think it is important that politicians don’t get into a further bidding war on sentence lengths because the consequence is that you either spend vast sums of money on building new prisons, or you run out of space. No one party has been uniquely responsible for that trend,” he said.
Facing limited central government resources for the justice system, Gauke said ministers may have to invite charities and NGOs to take up bigger central roles in rehabilitation.
“We are going to have to think, as a country, how we can unlock additional resources to address some of these issues in the community … There are other organisations who can play a role here. If you’re looking at some of those providing drug treatment provision, could some of those [third sector] providers play a bigger role,” he said.
