We will be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime

• Fast-track punishment for persistent young offenders

• Reform Crown Prosecution Service to convict more criminals

• Police on the beat not pushing paper

• Crackdown on petty crimes and neighbourhood disorder

• Fresh parliamentary vote to ban all handguns

Under the Conservatives, crime has doubled and many more criminals get away with their crimes: the number of people convicted has fallen by a third, with only one crime in 50 leading to a conviction. This is the worst record of any government since the Second World War - and for England and Wales the worst record of any major industrialised country. Last year alone violent crime rose 11 per cent.

We propose a new approach to law and order: tough on crime and tough on the causesof crime. We insist on individual responsibility for crime, and will attack the causes of crime by our measures to relieve social deprivation.

The police have our strong support. They are in the front line of the fight against crime and disorder. The Conservatives have broken their 1992 general election pledge to provide an extra 1,000 police officers. We will relieve the police of unnecessary bureaucratic burdens to get more officers back on the beat.

Youth crime

Youth crime and disorder have risen sharply, but very few young offenders end up in court, and when they do half are let off with another warning. Young offenders account for seven million crimes a year.

 Far too often young criminals offend again and again while waiting months for a courthearing. We will halve the time it takes to get persistent young offenders from arrest to sentencing; replace widespread repeat cautions with a single final warning; bring together Youth Offender Teams in every area; and streamline the system of youth courts to make it far more effective.

New parental responsibility orders will make parents face up to their responsibility for their children’s misbehaviour.

Conviction and sentencing

The job of the Crown Prosecution Service is to prosecute criminals effectively. There is strong evidence that the CPS is over-centralised, bureaucratic and inefficient, with cases too often dropped, delayed, or downgraded to lesser offences.

Labour will decentralise the CPS, with local crown prosecutors cooperating more effectively with local police forces.

 We will implement an effective sentencing system for all the main offences to ensure greater consistency and stricter punishment for serious repeat offenders. The courts will have to spell out what each sentence really means in practice. The Court of Appeal will have a duty to lay down sentencing guidelines for all the main offences. The
attorney general’s power to appeal unduly lenient sentences will be extended.

We will pilot the use of compulsory drug testing and treatment orders for offenders to ensure that the link between drug addiction and crime is broken. This will be paid for by bringing remand delays down to the national targets.

 We will attack the drug problem in prisons. In addition to random drug testing of all prisoners we will aim for a voluntary testing unit in every prison for prisoners ready to prove they are drug-free.

Victims

Victims of crime are too often neglected by the criminal justice system. We will ensure that victims are kept fully informed of the progress of their case, and why charges may have been downgraded or dropped.

Greater protection will be provided for victims in rape and serious sexual offence trials and for those subject to intimidation, including witnesses.

Prevention

We will place a new responsibility on local authorities to develop statutory partnerships to help prevent crime. Local councils will then be required to set targets for the reduction of crime and disorder in their area.

Gun control

In the wake of Dunblane and Hungerford, it is clear that only the strictest firearms laws can provide maximum safety. The Conservatives failed to offer the protection required. Labour led the call for an outright ban on all handguns in general civilian use. There will be legislation to allow individual MP’s a free vote for a complete ban on handguns.

Labour is the party of law and order in Britain today

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2001 GENERAL ELECTION MANIFESTO PROMISES

Ambitions for Britain

Fulfilling Britain’s great potential

The Prime Minister sets out his vision for Britain’s future

Investment and reform
Key measures for public service reform

1 Prosperity for all

How we expand our economy and raise our living standards

2 World-class public services

How investment and reform will improve public services

3 A modern welfare state

How we help people into work and provide security for those who can’t work

4 Strong and safe communities

How we tackle crime and renew our society

5 Britain strong in the world

How we make foreign policy work for Britain and the wider world

The choices for Britain

A lot done, a lot to do, and a lot to lose

25 steps to a better Britain

 Our key steps for a second term

The contract delivered

How Labour has fulfilled its first-term promises

Five pledges for the next five years

Economic pledge

1 Mortgages as low as possible, low inflation and sound public finances. As we deliver economic stability not return the economy to Tory boom and bust

Schools pledge

2 10,000 extra teachers and higher standards in secondary schools As we invest in our schools not make reckless tax cuts

Health pledge

3 20,000 extra nurses and 10,000 extra doctors in a reformed NHS As we improve NHS care for all not push patients into paying for operations

Crime pledge

4 6,000 extra recruits to raise police numbers to their highest ever
level as we tackle drugs and crime not cut police funding

Families pledge

5 Pensioners’ winter fuel payment retained, minimum wage rising to £4.20 As we help hard-working families not the privileged few

Built on five achievements since 1997

• Typical mortgage £1,200 less than under the Tories, inflation lowest for ‘30 years’

• The best ever results in primary schools

 • 17,000 extra nurses now in the NHS

 • Crime down ten per cent

• One million more people in work and a new Children’s Tax Credit

 This manifesto contains the details of our plans for the future of Britain. If
you would like to find out more about our policies, join the Labour Party or
make a donation to Labour’s election fund, please call 08705 900 200 or
visit our website at www.labour.org.uk

Renewing public services: criminal justice reform

New Labour believes that crime can only be cut by dealing with the causes of crime as well as being tough on criminals.

We plan the most comprehensive reform of the criminal justice system
since the war, to catch, convict, punish and rehabilitate more of the
100,000 persistent offenders. Our ten-year goal is a modernised criminal
justice system with the burglary rate halved.

We will now:

• overhaul sentencing so that persistent offending results in more severe punishment.

• reform custodial sentences so that every offender gets punishment and rehabilitation    designed to minimise reoffending.

 • reform rules of evidence to simplify trials and bring the guilty to justice.

• introduce specialist, late-sitting and review courts to reflect crime patterns and properly monitor offenders.

• establish a new Criminal Assets Recovery Agency to seize assets of
crime barons and a register of dealers to tackle drugs.

• introduce a victims’ bill of rights providing legal rights to compensation, support and information.