Conservatives to tag thousands more offenders to protect victims

• Justice Secretary to announce £183 million investment to nearly double of number of people on tags
• 10,000 more thieves and burglars will be GPS tagged over next three years to prevent reoffending
• 12,000 more prison leavers to be tagged over next three years to monitor alcohol consumption and reduce risk of reoffending
• Justice Secretary also to announce today a £90 million plan to increase the community work carried out by offenders to around eight million hours per year

Nearly double the number of offenders will be tagged to keep them away from their victims and stop them from reoffending, Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister, Dominic Raab will announce today.

Almost 26,000 extra offenders will be tagged over the next three years under an ambitious £180 million plan to expand the use of electronic monitoring to cut crime.

Ten thousand of those will be prolific robbers, thieves and burglars fitted with GPS tags as they come out of prison.

Alcohol monitoring tags will also be used on more than 12,000 prison leavers known to commit crimes when under the influence by 2025, helping keep them off alcohol altogether or limit their drinking to reduce the risk of them reoffending.

Deputy Prime Minister, Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor, Dominic Raab MP said:

“This major increase in high-tech GPS tagging will see us leading the world in using technology to fight crime and keep victims safe.

“From tackling alcohol-fuelled violence and burglary to protecting domestic abuse victims, we are developing tags to make our streets and communities safer.”

This world-first GPS tagging project – which began in April – expanded to half of England and Wales last week and will now be funded for a further three years. It recently saw the first conviction using location data to pin a thief to the scene of further crimes and is deterring others from reoffending. The intention is to roll it out nationwide, if successful at curbing crime and helping police catch offenders.

The expansion of sobriety tags follows their successful use on offenders serving community sentences since last October to help cut the £22 billion cost of alcohol-related crime.

The extra £183 million investment will see the number of people tagged at any one time rise from around 13,500 this year to approximately 25,000 by 2025.

The Justice Secretary will also announce today (Tuesday) a £90 million plan to increase the community work carried out by offenders to around eight million hours per year.

The funding will be used to recruit 500 more unpaid community work supervisors and develop new national partnerships between the Probation Service and major organisations.

It see a renewed focus on cleaning up streets, alleyways, housing estates and other open spaces, helping to cut crime and the fear of crime, and making a real difference to the quality of life for local people in neighbourhoods most affected by crime and anti-social behaviour.

Offenders will clean up hundreds of miles of rivers and canals every year under the first such agreement. The deal with the Canal and River Trust will see offenders make reparation to their local communities by clearing litter, tidying tow paths and maintaining beauty spots along the 2,000 miles of waterways in England and Wales.

The Justice Secretary is expected to use his conference speech to reiterate that his ‘number one priority’ is to protect women and girls. He is expected to reaffirm his commitment to implementing a Victims’ Law to enshrine the support available to victims in legislation.

He is expected to address the profound effect the recent murders of young women including Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa have had on the nation and will lay out the action he will take.

He is expected to say: “We will transform the way the justice system treats violence against women.

“We will take the Victims Code, and turn that guidance into law, to make sure that in every case, for every victim, their voice is heard, and they see justice done.”

His aim, he is expected to say, will be: “Making our communities safer, so that women can walk home at night, without having to look over their shoulder.

“As Justice Secretary, that’s my number one priority.”

He is also expected to lay out his other key priorities in the role from reforming the Human Rights Act to delivering more prison places and cutting reoffending so that fewer offenders go on to create new victims.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

GPS tags:

• GPS tags have been used nationwide since 2019 to monitor offenders’ compliance with licence conditions and court requirements, including exclusion zones. Judges can order them as part of bail conditions and they are now being used by the Home Office to monitor foreign national offenders awaiting deportation.
• Alcohol monitoring tags, which measure alcohol levels in sweat, have been ordered for over 1,500 offenders serving community sentences since they were first rolled out in October last year.
• Over 3500 high-risk domestic abusers over the next three years will have their whereabouts monitored using GPS tags to protect victims and children from further trauma. The tags may also help the Probation Service discover relationships that offenders are keeping secret so they can alert new partners.
• In the Acquisitive Crime GPS tagging project, GPS tags are fitted to eligible burglars, robbers and thieves serving a sentence of a year or more following their release from prison. This means their whereabouts can be monitored by GPS satellites 24 hours a day for up to 12 months.

Community payback:

• Probation services have previously worked with the Canal and River Trust on projects in the West Midlands and London and this new partnership will see that type of work replicated and expanded across England and Wales.
• Offenders will wear a high-visibility “Community Payback” tabard while they work, and the initiative will also provide training opportunities for them to develop skills to boost their employability.
• The Government is aiming to sign a range of partnerships with national organisations over the coming months and is working with local authorities and Police and Crime Commissioners to identify new projects. It comes after the creation of the new Probation Service in June which saw the Government take on the delivery of unpaid work.
• More than £300 million worth of extra funding has been pumped into the Probation Service since July 2019 helping to more than double the recruitment of trainee probation officers to a record high of 1,500 this financial year. Combined with the innovative use of tags, it means staff can keep a closer eye on the most dangerous offenders and ensure many more take up the opportunity to reform their criminal ways.