Posters of criminals should go up in towns, report says

The public feel justice rests with the criminal, the report claims

Wednesday, 18, Jun 2008 12:00

Posters of local people who have committed crimes should be put up in towns, according to a tough new report on crime for the Cabinet.

Louise Casey, former head of Tony Blair's Respect task force and author of the report, says the public feels the criminal justice system sides with the perpetrator rather than the victim.

To counter this she proposes a hard-hitting series of initiatives based around naming and shaming offenders.

In addition to the posters, Ms Casey wants those offenders doing community punishment to wear distinctive bibs so people see the effects of committing crime.

The idea has been renovated by the government several times without ever becoming law. It is criticised by civil liberties campaigners as draconian.

A spokesperson from the human rights group Liberty said: "The idea of offenders doing community service while wearing uniforms has been doing the rounds of Whitehall since Michael Howard was Home Secretary. It was a stupid idea then and is a clapped-out one now."

The community work projects would be run by private sector companies or charities and renamed 'community payback'.

Also in the report are suggestions for toughing up sentencing and the creation of a 'crime commissioner'.

There are also proposals for protecting victims and witnesses of crime. The elderly, disabled and those nervous of being targeted should be granted anonymity in court in much the same way as children and victims of sexual offences.

Gordon Brown said: "Through this report, people have told us what they want to be done, and we are going to act.

"The home secretary and I have asked Louise to work with us on a plan to transform the role of local communities in tackling crime but also to transform the way policing and justice relate to the public."

Home secretary Jacqui Smith said: "We plan to publish monthly local crime data and we will take forward the report's recommendations on local crime mapping and making sure every household receives 'Crime Watch' style information about the local fight against crime.

Justice secretary Jack Straw said: "Crime has fallen dramatically under this Government but we can and must do more to increase the public's confidence in justice.