I’ve banned XL bullies – now I’m setting my sights on locking up career criminals for good

However, according to the criminal data of the Ministry of Justice since 2007, more than 200,000 criminals managed to escape from prison despite having been convicted 25 times before, 32,000 people escaped from prison despite having more than 50 previous convictions, and 2,450 people escaped from prison despite having been convicted 100 times before. Even though he had more than 100 convictions, he managed to escape from prison.

Dr Newport referred to the case of Owen Hill, a 30-year-old prolific offender with 76 previous offenses and 34 convictions for burglary, burglary, shoplifting, assault, battery and drug possession.

He was given a three-month suspended prison sentence despite being caught with a knife and class A drugs and assaulting a police officer in Scarborough.

Another example was Joseph Phillips, 54, who committed more than 300 offences, half of them burglaries, and was given a 42-week suspended prison sentence after he was caught making preparations to break into cars in Blackburn.

Targeted strategy has an immediate impact on crime

But Dr Newport said crime had an immediate impact where police targeted large numbers of offenders. When seven members of a bicycle theft gang in the City of London were arrested and jailed in 2020, the number of stolen bicycles reported to police fell by 90 per cent.

In Hemel Hempstead, Operation Cross, in which plainclothes police targeted crime hotspots and senior patrols intensified stops and searches and forced entry into buildings where stolen goods were stored, reduced crime reports by 72 per cent.

Dr Newport’s eight-point plan focuses on rewriting sentencing guidelines and new legislation requiring “combined sentences” for career criminals; judges would need to potentially increase sentences by two to five years for repeat offenders.

This will be used in conjunction with contingency planning powers to accelerate non-custodial sentences for first-time offenders and for the Government to build more prisons to ensure speedy dispensation of justice.

Labor is expected determined strategy to build prisons Before Christmas, he will detail his manifesto commitment to use emergency planning powers to create more prison space.

Dr. Other measures outlined by Newport aim to enable police to make better use of the UK’s CCTV capability to solve crimes; expansion of police search, surveillance and surveillance powers; strengthen hotspot policing; and greater budgets for police to investigate burglaries, up to 90 percent of which remain unsolved.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: “Criminal decisions are made by an independent judiciary after careful consideration of all the facts before them. This Government is determined to address the high recidivism rates we have inherited.

“We have also launched an independent Sentencing Review to ensure sentences appropriately punish offenders, protect the public and encourage offenders to turn their backs on a life of crime.”

Dr Lawrence Newport’s campaign enthusiasm continues from super-sized bully dogs to the criminal justice system

It was the summer of 2023, one of the hottest years on record, when Dr Lawrence Newport first spotted the oversized bully dogs while walking near his London home.

“I knew from my law degree that pit bulls were banned,” says the 34-year-old legal academic. “Suddenly I saw these 60-pound pit bulls. My basic thought was: Will anything come of this? Did something bad happen?”

His investigation, which revealed the magnitude of the deaths and the horrific inbred origins of super-large American XL bully dogs, later helped fuel the public outcry and rapid response. Rishi Sunak’s government adding the animals to the Dangerous Dogs Act and banning them.

Looking for a position after leaving his job as a lecturer at Royal Holloway University in London, Dr. Newport described how deaths from dog attacks have increased from three a year to 10 in 2022, six of which are linked to XL Bullies. . Overall, the number of dog attacks increased from 16,000 in 2018 to 22,000 in 2022.

“I thought if we didn’t do something about it we would be faced with a permanent problem. I could see the situation getting worse due to the popularity of dogs. “Puppies were going for up to £3,000,” he recalls.

This is how the campaign to ban XL bully dogs in June 2023 was born. Somewhat ambitiously, he set a target of two and a half weeks for victory. It actually took two and a half months, or more precisely 77 days, until the Prime Minister announced the ban on September 15, 2023.