Member

Make no mistake: this is about a risk and a potential impact on the quality of life of persistent offenders—people convicted of assault, burglary and other very serious crimes. I know that my erstwhile sparring partner, the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, does not like the term “roaming the streets” when we describe persistent offenders who are not going to be incarcerated in the prison estate. I do not know whether there is a more cuddly term that she would like to use as an alternative, but it seems to me that we should not sugar-coat the real-world impact of people who hitherto would have been incarcerated in custody and now will not be. That is important to keep in mind.