Dame Nicole Jacobs, the domestic abuse commissioner for England and Wales, called the scheme “shameful” and said she’s had “no assurance that the danger perpetrators pose has been properly considered and assessed with meaningful input from victims”.
“Ultimately, we cannot ignore the fact that the early release scheme has caused untold damage to victims’ confidence in the justice system,” Dame Nicole added.
She said Prime Minister Andy Burnham “must take urgent steps to address this” and called on the probation service to be given “the resources it needs to safely manage more offenders in the community”. She also called for additional funding for domestic abuse services to support victims.
A recent report raised serious concerns about electronic tagging, which can be used to monitor offenders’ movements in the community. It found almost half of tags were not fitted on time.
Alice told the she had been looking to buy a doorbell with a camera fitted to help make her feel safer, but said she cannot afford one. “I don’t feel prepared in the slightest and I don’t feel safe,” she added.
“I think the early release scheme is a joke to victims and survivors, who spent years preparing for trial, going through evidence and re-traumatising themselves to go to court, just for the perpetrator of their crimes to be released after just 33% of their sentence”.
The MoJ said: “Anyone who is released faces the toughest-ever controls on their movements, including world-first restriction zones and the largest expansion of electronic tagging, with victims having a say in their perpetrators’ licence conditions.”