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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Top judge says halve short-term jail sentences
Ananova
Thursday 25 Oct 2001 The Lord Chief Justice says judges and magistrates should cut short-term prison sentences. He says they should be reduced by as 50% because they are "ineffective". Lord Woolf says offenders should be given a custodial sentence only if it is really necessary. Britain's most senior serving judge made his comments at the Youth Justice Board conference in central London. He told the audience: "Don't send people to prison unless it is really necessary. "If you are sending them for short-term, pause before you do so - ask yourself, if you are going to sentence for 12 months would six months be sufficient and achieve exactly the same benefits for the public, at lower cost to, the Treasury and our prison system. "If six months is what you have in mind would not three months do? If three months will do, what about one month?" According to the Times newspaper, he added: "Of course, for serious offenders and serious persistent offenders, there is no alternative but for substantial punishment." He also highlighted that the prison population has been rising rapidly. It now stands at 67,465, an increase of 400 since the end of August, while the number of inmates that can be accommodated stands at just under 64,000.
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