Reduce ex-offenders' disclosure period, says Clarke

 
You have to like Ken Clarke, don’t you? Since taking over as justice secretary he’s been responsible for some real howlers. Remember when he blurted out on radio that some rapes were less serious than others? Not his finest moment.

But in the tidal wave of phoney anger that ensued, what got lost in the furore was a serious discussion about crime and sentencing.

In fact, most of Clarke’s surprisingly progressive prison policies have been engulfed in the same mock outrage. 

But just look at the facts.

When Kenneth Clarke was home secretary, back in 1993, there were 44,000 people in Britain’s prisons. Fast forward 18 years to his tenure as justice secretary and the number has almost doubled.

Since re-entering government, the 71-year-old has put forward some controversial ideas about tackling this. There was the one about prison being about rehabilitation not punishment. That caused a bit of a stink.

Then there was the one about prisoners doing proper jobs and learning trades in prison. That caused a bit of a stink, too.

Now, expect another mushroom cloud of outrage at his latest idea: that the slate would be wiped clean for hundreds of offenders by reducing the period in which they are required to inform employers of previous crimes.

In medium-term sentences, this period will be reduced from 10 years to four, and in short-term prison sentences it will be reduced from seven to two years.

No doubt, the “lock ’em up and throw away the key” brigade will have something to say about this one, too.

In actual fact, what Clarke has successively tried to do is bring common sense back into the discussion on crime. 

It’s a tough call. In this modern age of fast news and political spin, crime and punishment has become one issue that successive governments have grappled with. It’s been used as a tool to win elections. It’s been used as a tool to berate the opposition.

Yet lost in the trading of accusations has been a measured analysis of a complex problem.

The figures speak for themselves, however. Most prisoners aren’t the serial-killing crazed murderers that The Daily Mail would have you believe. Most are on short-term sentences for petty crime. Much of the prison population can’t read or write, or have learning difficulties.

Three in four offenders return to crime following punishment. It costs the taxpayer millions each year. Prisoners who don’t have jobs when they are released are much more likely to return to crime, and the majority of employers would think twice about employing someone with a criminal record. Yet many former prisoners want to turn their lives around and lead law-abiding lives.

Isn’t it time the knee-jerk explosion gave way to a serious and nuanced discussion about a serious and nuanced problem?