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Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

There will be a two-year custodial sentence, which might mean a four-year sentence in due course. I hope that helps to assure the right hon. and learned Gentleman on that point. The changes we propose will increase judicial discretion as well as imposing a seriousness threshold on public protection sentences. As the right hon. and learned Gentleman mentioned, the provisions on the seriousness threshold will ensure that the threshold will be that the offence must justify a minimum of two years' custodial time. We shall also remove the rebuttable presumption of risk where there is a previous conviction for violent or sexual crime. Courts will obviously regard previous records as highly important in determining the risk presented by the offender, and we are ensuring that the legislation clarifies that the court is not being asked to ignore previous convictions. It is also important, as my noble Friend Lord Carter of Coles said, to allow courts greater discretion so that where conditions for an IPP are met, the court may impose an IPP, extended sentence for public protection or other sentence that it finds appropriate. We are also changing the structure of extended sentences so that offenders will be subject to automatic release halfway through the custodial part, rather than leaving such halfway release to the discretion of the Parole Board, as happens currently. New clause 46 examines the reform of the Bail Act 1976 and would change the law on bail for offenders charged with the least serious imprisonable offences. As the law stands, the grounds for refusing bail differ according to whether the offence is imprisonable. If it is imprisonable, the court will deal with an application for bail in accordance with part 1 of the schedule. If that is not possible, part 2 applies. The amendment would insert a new part 1A into the schedule to set out the grounds on which bail may be withheld when the offence is imprisonable but summary only.