The police chief’s representative body has warned of a 6% surge in crime following proposed reforms to increase the use of community sentences.

Despite government efforts to reduce reoffending through the Sentencing Bill, early releases and community sentences are increasing crime rates in the short term according to the National Police Chief’s Council.

Proposed reforms involve a presumption against prison sentences under a year with offenders serving their sentence in the community. It would also see prisoners potentially being released earlier under the ‘earned progression’ scheme where they would have a period of enhanced supervision in the community before an unsupervised period on licence.

Jason Devonport, the lead for the National Police Chief’s Council on criminal justice reform, has warned there is an expectation of ‘an increase of offending’ in the ‘short-term’. He cautioned that whilst he does ‘believe in rehabilitation,’ it must be ‘properly funded’.

There have been an additional 1,500 new probation officers recruited but they need training to help ensure the reforms can work in practice. The police have requested the government to invest up to £400 million more to ensure effective monitoring of offenders within the community. A report by the House of Lords has indicated that electronic tagging will likely be doubled to monitor offenders, but that it is ‘set up to fail’ without additional training and funding

Domestic Abuse Charity, Refuge, have expressed concern about the reforms and the impact on victims of domestic abuse. Ellie Butt cautioned that ‘the risks posed by domestic abuse perpetrators cannot be underestimated’ and emphasised ‘it is crucial that safeguards exempting domestic abuse offenders are consistently applied.’

Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Philp, has described the reforms as ‘weak and reckless’ cautioning it will mean ‘many more criminals will be out on the streets, where they will commit more crime.’ He urged the Labour government to ‘change course’.

The Howard League for Penal Reform has also criticised the ‘earned progression’ scheme for being based upon a ‘flawed and unfair punishment process’ where prisoners can be released without supervision or the necessary support. They caution that prisoners could spend ‘longer than necessary behind bars’ due to the Bill including additional days imprisonment for breaching prison rules such as offensive behaviour or causing damage. However, as previously reported on the Justice Gap, it remains unclear how decisions will be made without discrimination.