Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008

A Bill to make further provision about criminal justice (including provision about the police) and dealing with offenders and defaulters; to provide for the establishment and functions of Her Majesty’s Commissioner for Offender Management and Prisons and to make further provision about the management of offenders; to amend the criminal law; to make further provision for combatting crime and disorder; to make provision about the mutual recognition of financial penalties; to make provision for a new immigration status in certain cases involving criminality; and for connected purposes.

The Bill sets out new powers to deal with anti-social and violent behaviour, make sentencing decisions clearer and introduces a new community sentence for young offenders. The Government set out its commitment to delivering an effective criminal justice system in ‘Rebalancing the criminal justice system in favour of the law-abiding majority’, published in July 2006. It looks at how to cut crime, reduce reoffending and protect the public. The Bill sets out how it would deliver the commitments set out in the review.

This Bill is carried over from the 2006-07 session.

Key areas

• Ensure that the needs of victims are at the heart of what the criminal justice system does
• Toughen up trial processes when an offender fails to appear without good reason
• Create new powers to tackle anti-social and violent behaviour
• Create a new offence to deal with violent pornography
• Introduce a generic community sentence for young offenders
• Make sentencing decisions clearer and address imbalances in the way convictions are overturned and offenders released
• Bring compensation for those wrongly convicted into line with compensation paid to victims of crime.