UK govt mulls limiting minor jail sentences

LONDON, Jan 12 (AFP): The British government is considering scrapping jail sentences of six months or less for most crimes in a bid to reduce reoffending and ease pressure on the system, the prisons minister said on Saturday.

The move could see tens of thousands of people convicted of non-violent or non-sexual crimes, such as burglary and shoplifting, spared jail under the plan, Rory Stewart told The Daily Telegraph.

In an interview with the newspaper's magazine, he said that short jail terms were "long enough to damage you and not long enough to heal you.

"You bring somebody in for three or four weeks, they lose their house, their job, their family, their reputation.

"They come (into prison), they meet a lot of interesting characters and then you whap them on to the streets again," he said.

"The public are safer if we have a good community sentence… and it will relieve a lot of pressure on prisons."

The change would mirror 2010 reforms in Scotland, where judges are now guided by a legal presumption against custodial sentences of less than three months.

Reoffending rates there have since fallen to their lowest levels for nearly two decades, and the Scottish government is considering extending it to less than a year.