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1st December 2021
Terrorism sentences and the Fishmonger Hall attack. The government recently introduced a package of measures aimed at keeping the public safe from terrorists by imposing longer prison terms. The Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Act came into force in April and introduced a new “serious terrorism sentence” and provides a minimum term of 14 years and monitoring for up to 25 years after release. The Act also increased the maximum penalty for some offences from 10 to 14 years and gives judges the power to increase a sentence by up to two years if there is a “terrorist connection”.
The Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation has said that lengthier sentences are unlikely to deter extremists from a plot to kill multiple victims. The Sentencing Council consultation on how to implement the new sentencing regime led to this comment. Jonathan Hall QC went on to say that he objected to proposed guidelines saying that the courts should not undermine the intention of parliament and the deterrent purpose of the provisions.
He stated, “There is no evidence that the serious terrorism offence sentence provisions have a deterrent purpose and given the cohort of offenders in question – terrorist offenders who have risked multiple deaths – it is highly unlikely that they will be deterred by the prospect of a statutory minimum term of 14 years.
It is much more likely that the provisions have an incapacitative purpose, by ensuring that offenders are held in prison for longer.”
The Sentencing Council proposes that the minimum term can only not be imposed in truly exceptional circumstances.
A previous impact assessment published by the government said that longer sentences gave terrorists more time to engage in deradicalisation programmes. However, there was also a risk of such offenders radicalising other prisoners during their sentence. David Lammy MP also questioned the law, commenting, “there’s little use in increasing sentences for terrorists if we are to release them just a few years later, still committed to their hateful ideology, still determined to wreak havoc”.
A report from Judge Mark Lucraft QC following the Fishmongers Hall terrorist attack was published in late October. In this attack, a terrorist offender had been released and murdered two people at a rehabilitation event. The report makes 22 recommendations to various authorities, including Probation, the Ministry of Justice and the police.
The inquest into the attack found serious deficiencies in how the offender was managed following his release from custody, such as the training given to the staff who managed him and the “missed opportunities” to share information and guidance by the security services. The verdicts from the inquest led to the report now published, referred to as a “prevention of future deaths” report.
The offender at Fishmongers Hall posed as a reformed extremist and was allowed to join the event. The fact this was allowed gave rise to concerns that probation officers gave insufficient regard to instances of dishonesty in “self-presentation by extremist offenders”. Excessive weight may have been given to the perceived compliance by such offenders, such as being polite and meeting licence conditions.
The report makes a series of recommendations relating to courses such as the Learning Together programme in this case. Formal risk assessments must be undertaken, and any threat considered and mitigated. Proper communication must take place between all agencies in order to address those potential risks.
The recommendations were:
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[Image credit: “Hand Gun” by Lala Photography at JoLi Studios Colchester is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 ]