Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:15 pm on 13 February 2019.
Yes, I completely agree with David Melding; there's a big issue with short prison sentences, which we've rehearsed many times in this Chamber. They aren't long enough to get any kind of programme of rehabilitation or retraining or anything else. They're designed, it seems sometimes, specifically to disrupt the person's family life, work prospects and housing. It's very hard to see what purpose they serve in any regard for anyone, to be honest. So, we do need to work very carefully with, in particular, the Magistrates' Association, actually, in terms of very short sentences, and I think there is a widespread view that that is something that needs to happen with some dispatch. Clearly, the options for community service or community payback schemes or whatever need to be thoroughly explored and made available. But also, of course, we need to prevent people from going into the criminal justice system in the first place, and so having some of the upstream measures I've just talked about in order to divert people away from the criminal justice system in the first place obviously would also be beneficial.