Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons?

Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons?

Prisons minister says criminals could cut jail sentences by saying 'sorry'

• Crispin Blunt wants victims to confront offenders
• Restorative justice would lead to 'rehabilitation revolution'

Crispin Blunt, the prisons minister, wants to take addicts and the mentally ill out of the system and place them in secure treatment centres. Photograph: Graham Turner for the Guardian

Tens of thousands of offenders may be able to reduce their sentences by making personal apologies to their victims, under plans for a "rehabilitation revolution" in the criminal justice system.

Crispin Blunt, the prisons minister, is considering the move as part of a drive to offer victims the chance to come face-to-face with the person who committed the crime against them. A report released today by two charities, Victim Support and the Restorative Justice Consortium, suggests the policy could save £185m in two years by cutting reoffending.

The minister has also declared his support for a form of "community payback" where money that is earned by criminals, either in prison or during alternative forms of punishment, is diverted to the victims of crime as a form of "community payback".

The Ministry of Justice has also drawn up plans to take thousands of prisoners who are mentally ill or addicted to drugs out of prison and place them in secure treatment centres. Around 13,000 people are in UK prisons for drugs offences. According to the probation union, Napo, a further 5,000 men and 500 women in the system have psychotic disorders.

The radical reforms will fuel an increasingly bitter law and order row within the coalition government. Ken Clarke, the minister of justice, has been fiercely criticised for arguing that the number of prisoners in UK jails should be reduced.

Last week Blunt was forced by Downing Street to withdraw plans to abolish a ban on comedy workshops and parties in prison. He said that offenders could be confronted with the victims of their crime in meetings facilitated by police officers. "I'm a maximalist when it comes to restorative justice – I want to get it into our system at every stage," he said. "It makes common sense: if you have a system that is remote, so the victim doesn't really engage, then [they become] frustrated by the lack of involvement.

"With community payback there is a value of the labour that is being done [in prison or alternative forms of punishment] and that value should be cashed and should be going back to the victim.

But some Conservative MPs warned against favouring the wishes of those working in the criminal justice system, and not the wider public.

Tory MP Douglas Carswell said: "Restorative justice is certainly a fad that excited those that work for the criminal justice system, and I am not sure it is necessarily a bad thing. But it should be no substitute for justice. Some people tend to think that rehabilitation should take primacy over punishment. I don't think most people agree with that."

Blunt is being advised about how to roll out the plans by Victim Support and the Restorative Justice Consortium, which wants 75,000 victims of robbery, violence and burglary each year to be offered meetings, arguing that this would cut reconviction rates by 27%.

The report recommends meetings take place before sentencing. Lawrence Kershen QC, chair of the Restorative Justice Consortium, said case law indicated that judges could take into account a restorative meeting when considering sentencing. "An important element that judges are looking for is whether there is remorse. The reason we look for that is if someone feels remorse there is a better chance – although no guarantee – that they will not do it again." Both charities point out that such meetings are used in other countries to divert people out of the criminal justice system.Critics claim that offenders could manipulate such a system by lying, but Kershen added: "Most of the time victims know if someone is genuine when they say they are sorry. Offenders say facing their victim is one of the hardest things to do. You cannot hide behind a lawyer – you are there, naked in a way."

The Forgiveness Project, a grassroots organisation, helps to encourage restorative justice by facilitating meetings for offenders with the actual victims or "surrogate victims".

Among the people who have been helped by the project are Mary Foley, whose 15-year-old daughter was stabbed to death by teenager Beatriz Martins-Paes, who later wrote to her apologise. The mother has forgiven Martins-Paes and wants to meet her, saying restorative justice brings "closure and healing".