Home Affairs has called for help in its efforts to address emerging risks or to speed up changes to sentencing policies.
As part of its input to the wider States ‘roadmap’ for the next government to follow, the Committee for Home Affairs is suggesting that a ‘Criminal Justice Legislative Development Programme’ is prioritised.
Home Affairs says a number of key pieces of legislation have been deferred for consideration during the next political term and it suggests that a new development programme could tackle those issues sooner rather than later.
The Committee says a Criminal Justice Legislative Development Programme, supported by the Law Officers of the Crown, would support the delivery of a programme of work which would respond at pace to emerging risks, deliver good practice reviews; including RIPL, PPACE, Fire Law, Police Law and sentencing policy, progress extant Resolutions, and identify and advise on the development of operational legislative requirements.
Home Affairs is responsible for “maintaining and promoting a safe, stable and equitable society”. Its mandate includes policing, customs, the courts, and the prison.
The previous Home Affairs Committee successfully won States backing for changes to the Sexual Offences law prior to the last election.
Those changes were enacted in 2022, and impacted on the recent sentencing of a man for grooming and other offences – the first sentencing of its kind under the new law.
While his conviction and sentence was welcomed by the so-called ‘paedophile hunters’ who caught him messaging what he thought was a 13-year-old girl, some members of the public have called out the Royal Court for being too lenient.
If Home Affairs is successful in getting a Criminal Justice Legislative Development Programme during the next term of government, then it could lead to stronger sentencing powers for the courts in some cases.
In its update on its work under the Government Work Plan, Home Affairs has highlighted the work that it has already done to bring perpetrators of sexual violence and other crimes to justice – but it also acknowledges that more still needs to be done.
“It is recognised that domestic abuse and sexual violence are crimes that are underreported and that more needs to be done to bring perpetrators to justice. Through the delivery of new legislation and services, the Committee has sought to highlight the issue and encourage a conversation, which it is hoped will see reporting and prosecution of these cases increase.”