Labour has expressed concerns over the Government’s sentencing law reforms, arguing they lack substance and are unlikely to deliver meaningful change.

Labour’s Justice Spokesperson, Duncan Webb told chrislynchmedia.com that while the reforms aim to reduce victim numbers by 20,000 over the next six years, the first quarterly report on public service targets shows an increase of 30,000 victims as of June.

One key aspect of the reforms is the introduction of aggravating factors, such as adults exploiting children to commit crimes and offenders glorifying criminal activities online.

Webb acknowledged these were positive steps but pointed out they were not new. “Both of those are great ideas, and they’re already before Parliament. They were introduced in the ram raids bill that Labour introduced,” Webb said, suggesting the Government had repurposed existing proposals.

Another contentious point is the plan to reduce sentencing discounts. Webb noted that judges already limit discounts for guilty pleas to a maximum of 25%, stating, “Paul Goldsmith’s just kind of saying, good one, judges. Now I’m going to put it in black and white in the legislation.”

While Webb agrees with the principle of offering discounts for early guilty pleas, he stressed the importance of protecting victims. “For some crimes, particularly violent or sexual crimes, it’s really traumatic for the victim to go through the trial process. Sparing the victim from that trauma is important,” Webb said.

However, public trust in the sentencing system remains a concern for Webb. He warned against undermining the judiciary, saying, “There’s been a lot of sniping at judges from politicians. We need to trust our judges to make the correct decisions, taking into account the wide range of circumstances.”

Webb also voiced his opposition to the Government’s proposal to grant police powers to search gang members’ homes for patches, calling it an “overreach.”

He pointed out that the Law Society had condemned the idea and questioned the harm of having a gang patch stored privately in someone’s home. “

This is crossing the line. Triggering a search power just because police suspect there’s a gang patch is a real overreach,” Webb said.

He also criticised the timing of the proposal, which was introduced without notice during the final stages of the legislation’s passage through Parliament.