Labour pledges to tackle antisocial behaviour by increasing community sentences

Labour has pledged to tackle antisocial behaviour by increasing and strengthening the use of community sentences.

In the last three years, almost two million reports regarding antisocial behaviour went unattended according to freedom of information (FOI) requests, and Keir Starmer believes being tough on crime will help Labour win the next election. 

The Labour party intend on pitching themselves as ‘the party of law and order’, in an update to Tony Blair’s election mantra: ‘Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’. 

Shadow Justice Secretary Steve Reed said that Labour wants to challenge preconceived notions by portraying themselves as ‘the party of law and order’ at the next election

Shadow Justice Secretary Steve Reed said how the party would crack down on antisocial behaviour in an interview with The Times. 

Polls consistently show that antisocial behaviour is one of the public’s top concerns.

In April, it was reported that police were failing to send officers to over half of antisocial behaviour cases, as victims’ groups warned that more tragedies would happen unless forces stopped treating the incidents as ‘low-level’ crime.

He said Labour wants to challenge the Tories on their record of huge backlog in courts, falling prosecution rates and overcrowded prisons leading to police cells being used as an overcrowding measure. 

Reed said that he wanted to increase the use of community sentences and give ‘a voice directly to victims’. 

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The Shadow Justice Secretary said that victims will be able to choose what offenders carry out, so that they will see ‘justice done’.  

Keir Starmer believes being tough on crime will help Labour win the next election

Currently, community sentences include decorating community centres, removing graffiti, repairing churches, clearing wasteland or repairing churches. 

However, Labour’s plans would mean that the scope of work would be widened.

Reed added: ‘Rather than just giving up on those people or letting them get out there and offend, I want to keep people safe and keep our community safe. 

‘You can do that by tackling the effects of the trauma that leads them to offending. By doing it, you make them much less likely to offend again.’

Reed drew upon his own experience of being a victim of crime – when he was robbed at knifepoint – and said that this helped understand the victims’ need for retribution.

He said that he believed that many people do feel unsafe when walking in the streets.

A Conservative source told The Times: ‘It will take more than this to persuade voters that the party who voted against more police funding and tougher sentences for rapists and child killers can be trusted with our justice system.’