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The Sentencing Bill \\u2013 one of seven criminal justice bills trailed in this week\\u2019s Queen\\u2019s Speech \\u2013 will aim to keep serious or violent criminals behind bars for longer than at present. It\\u2019s part of the government\\u2019s \\u2018tougher\\u2019 approach to law and order, along with an increase in the number of police officers and an avowed intention to give victims a louder voice in the criminal justice system. The Home Secretary Priti Patel says she wants to make criminals \\u2018feel terror\\u2019 on the streets. Polling suggests that nearly three quarters of British adults agree with her. These changes in policy prompt a number of ethical questions: Is fear an effective motivator for preventing crime? Are longer prison sentences a just and effective form of punishment? How grim should life in prison be, when the deprivation of liberty alone might be thought punishment enough? Once we\\u2019ve decided what we mean by \\u2018punishment\\u2019, what should we demand of the enforcers \\u2013 particularly the police, the prosecutors and the courts? A notion of justice that emphasises retribution over rehabilitation? One that tips the balance towards sympathy for victim and away from seeking to understand the criminal? Does the high rate of re-offending demonstrate that prison doesn\\u2019t work \\u2013 or that redemption is rare? Should we try to be more understanding about why people commit crimes? The Gospel of Luke says that from those to whom much has been given, much will be required \\u2013 so should the circumstances into which someone has been born be weighed and acknowledged in the punishment they receive? Or should justice be blind, swayed by the hard-luck stories of neither the offender nor the victim?

Producer: Dan Tierney.