England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

, the imprisonment for public protection (IPP; ) sentence was a form of

indeterminate sentence Indefinite imprisonment or indeterminate imprisonment is the imposition of a sentence by imprisonment with no definite period of time set during sentencing. It was imposed by certain nations in the past, before the drafting of the United Natio ...

introduced by section 225 of the

Criminal Justice Act 2003 The Criminal Justice Act 2003 (c. 44) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is a wide-ranging measure introduced to modernise many areas of the criminal justice system in England and Wales and, to a lesser extent, in Scotland an ...

(with effect from 2005) by the Home Secretary,

David Blunkett David Blunkett, Baron Blunkett, (born 6 June 1947) is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of the House of Lords since 2015, and previously served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough ...

, and abolished in 2012. It was intended to protect the public against criminals whose crimes were not serious enough to merit a normal life sentence but who were regarded as too dangerous to be released when the term of their original sentence had expired. It is composed of a punitive "tariff" intended to be proportionate to the gravity of the crime committed, and an indeterminate period which commences after the expiration of the tariff and lasts until the

Parole Board A parole board is a panel of people who decide whether an offender should be released from prison on parole after serving at least a minimum portion of their sentence as prescribed by the sentencing judge. Parole boards are used in many jurisdiction ...

judges the prisoner no longer poses a risk to the public and is fit to be released. The equivalent for under-18s was called detention for public protection, introduced by s. 226 of the 2003 Act. The sentences came into effect on 4 April 2005. Although there is no limit to how long prisoners can be detained under IPPs, and some may never be released, they may be released on review; an IPP sentence is not a sentence of

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

with a

whole-life tariff In England and Wales, life imprisonment is a sentence that lasts until the death of the prisoner, although in most cases the prisoner will be eligible for early release after a minimum term set by the judge. In exceptional cases, however, a ju ...

. In 2007, the

Queen's Bench Division The King's Bench Division (or Queen's Bench Division when the monarch is female) of the High Court of Justice deals with a wide range of common law cases and has supervisory responsibility over certain lower courts. It hears appeals on point ...

of the High Court ruled that the continued incarceration of prisoners serving IPPs after tariff expiry where the prisons lack the facilities and courses required to assess their suitability for release was unlawful, bringing up concern that many dangerous offenders would be freed. In 2010 a joint report by the chief inspectors of prisons and probation concluded that IPP sentences were unsustainable with UK

prison overcrowding Prison overcrowding is a social phenomenon occurring when the demand for space in prisons in a jurisdiction exceeds the capacity for prisoners. The issues associated with prison overcrowding are not new, and have been brewing for many years. Dur ...

. In 2012, the IPP sentence for new cases was abolished by the

Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) is a statute of the Parliament of the United Kingdom enacted by the coalition government of 2010-2015, creating reforms to the justice system. The bill for the act was intro ...

, although over 6,000 prison inmates remained imprisoned for public protection; over 4,600 remained as of June 2015, and over 3,000 remained as of 2017. Three-quarters of them had completed their minimum term, and hundreds had served five times the minimum. The government's policy was that IPP prisoners should remain in prison until it is deemed that the risks they pose if released are manageable. Some of the alleged victims of

John Worboys John Derek Radford (formerly John Worboys; born June 1957) is a British convicted sex offender, known as the Black Cab Rapist. Worboys was convicted in 2009 for attacks on 12 women. Police say he may have had more than 100 victims. Early life Bo ...

whose cases were not taken up by the

Crown Prosecution Service The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal adv ...

were assured that the IPP sentence in effect meant a life sentence.John Worboys case shone light on IPP injustice
The Guardian, 3 April 2018. Retrieved 9 August 2018

References

{{reflist

External links

Chapter 5 of Part 12 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, as amended
Penal system in the United Kingdom

See also

References

External links