Life sentences for killer drivers among new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill

The plans include new laws to reform sentencing, the courts and the management of offenders, as well as more powers and protections for the police.

Some of these will be UK-wide while others may only apply in England and Wales.

Measures proposed in the Bill include:

•  Whole Life Orders for premeditated murder of a child, allowing judges to also hand out the maximum sentence to 18 to 20-year-olds in exceptional cases, like for acts of terrorism leading to mass loss of life.
• Powers to halt the automatic early release of offenders who pose a danger to the public and ending the automatic release halfway through a sentence of serious violent and sexual offenders.
• Introducing life sentences for killer drivers.
• Expanding position of trust laws to make it illegal for sports coaches and religious leaders to engage in sexual activity with 16 and 17-year-olds in their care.
• Increasing the maximum penalty for criminal damage of a memorial from three months to 10 years.
•  Serious Violence Reduction Orders, making it easier to stop and search those who have previously been convicted of carrying a knife.
• Doubling the maximum sentence for assaulting an emergency worker to two years and enshrining a Police Covenant in law to protect serving and retired officers and their families.
• Laws so police can obtain search warrants to help find human remains where it is not possible to bring about a prosecution, such as where a suspect has died, is unfit to plead or has already been convicted of the offence in absence of a body.
•  Tougher police powers to tackle non-violent protests which are significantly disruptive to the public or on access to Parliament and unauthorised encampments which interfere with the ability to use the land.
• Reversing bail reforms which led to suspects accused of serious and violent crimes being released without restrictions and instead imposing conditions if they could pose a risk to victims, witnesses or the public.
• Doubling the amount of time offenders can be subject to curfews to two years.
•  Placing a legal duty on councils, police, criminal justice bodies, health and fire services to tackle serious violence and share intelligence and data.
• Carrying out homicide reviews for deaths of adults involving offensive weapons to try and better understand and prevent violent crime.
• Allowing profoundly deaf people to sit on juries for the first time by allowing a British sign language interpreter into a jury deliberation room.

Judith Cummins MP (Lab, Bradford South) welcomed the new bill, having backed a bill, introduced by former Prime Minister Theresa May, on life sentences for danger drivers.

Ms Cummins said: "I welcome these much tougher sentences for drivers who kill. I have campaigned since becoming an MP for these changes, so that finally families can have the justice they need. 

"For too long those families who have had their loved ones killed on our roads by dangerous drivers have been denied justice."

The Bill also gives better protection to police officers involved in driving incidents, with the introduction of a new test to assess the standard of driving following a collision.

The test permits courts to judge the standard against a ‘competent and careful peer’ with the same training, rather than with a member of the public.

“It’s finally landed and not before time,” said Brian Booth, Chairman of West Yorkshire Police Federation.

“These are much needed protections that Police Officers need when driving to keep the public safe.

“For many years we have seen officers dragged through the courts because their unique skill set is not recognised in law.

"Police officers often found themselves subject to unfair prosecutions for driving in the manner they had been trained, for example pursuing stolen vehicles whereby they have to exceed the speed limit to try and bring the pursuit to a safe conclusion.

“Whilst exceeding the speed limit, if the offenders vehicle is involved in an accident and danger was caused to anyone, then there were no protections in law for the officer and the officer was liable for a dangerous driving charge.

“The standard for the driving was set as if you were on your driving test, you do not exceed the speed limit or go through red lights on your driving test and if you did, you would fail.

“The public should not be worried that officers are now going to drive any differently, there are strict guidelines, policies and technology on police vehicles that monitor driver behaviour, on top of camera systems.”

More additions for police

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill legislates to double the maximum sentences for those convicted of assaulting emergency workers in England and Wales to two years and clears the way for Special Constables to formally join the Police Federation.

It will also see the introduction of the Police Covenant.

What does West Yorkshire's Police and Crime Commissioner think about the bill?

Mark Burns-Williamson, West Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), said: "Along with fellow PCCs and West Yorkshire MPs, I will be following the progress of the Bill, which is joint between the Home Office and Ministry of Justice, and to ensure that it takes into account all the feedback we provided as part of the consultations done with the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) which is wide ranging encompassing sentencing, rehabilitation and courts.

"Parts of the Bill including the proposal to extend the Sexual Offences Act to cover any adult who has regular and direct contact with children and is in a position of authority over them. We must do all we can to protect children and young people against those who put themselves in positions of trust and seek to abuse that trust to sexually exploit those who they should be protecting.

“Sexual offenders against children take advantage of a power imbalance and this extension to the Act will not only act as a deterrent but allow the law to deal with such offenders and abusers of trust.

“In relation to sentencing, the public needs to have confidence in the criminal justice system, or else they will lose faith in reporting crime. By ensuring those who commit the most serious violent crimes spend appropriate lengths of time in prison, we can send a clear message that we are on the side of victims.

“However, years of underinvestment in the wider criminal justice system has been cruelly exacerbated by the impact of Covid19 leading to lengthy court case backlogs which is a real worry and threat to many of these measures.

“But we must look to reduce repeat re-offending through more effective community sentences and rehabilitation programmes for offenders where they are more appropriate.

“We are also investing in local community programmes which help offenders, such as those with substance misuse issues, to help turn their lives around. We know these types of interventions are successful and I am working with a number of organisations in West Yorkshire to deliver such programmes.

“I have long supported and campaigned for the increase in sentences for those who assault emergency workers from a minimum of 12 months.

"We have seen an unacceptable rise in the number of police officers and emergency workers facing serious injury and trauma as a result of being assaulted on duty and working with Chief Constable, Police Federation and local MPs such as Holly Lynch in West Yorkshire support the proposed increase.

“We need to do everything in our power to protect and support our emergency workers. They do jobs that present difficult challenges to their health and wellbeing on behalf of all of us, and should not also have to worry about being attacked while doing their duty to protect us.

“Whilst the overall intent of this Bill is recognised, the danger is that it is so wide ranging it could take 12 months or more to work its way through Parliament and much of it potentially never enacted.”