Reform pledges mandatory ‘whole life’ sentences for child rapists | ITV News

https://www.itv.com/news/2026-01-03/reform-pledges-mandatory-whole-life-sentences-for-child-rapists?utm_source=NewsApp&utm_medium=SocialShare

Posted by topotaul

15 Comments

  1. Substantial-Newt7809 on

    Up next: grooming gangs just murdering their victims because the sentence is the same or potentially less and it reduces their chance of being convicted.

  2. But hugs a convicted racist terrorist; and allows an MP who received a custodial sentence for “kicking” their then girlfriend “around four times” to Remain their MP.

    I wonder what sentence they should give for lying to the public about Brexit, which costs every adult around one thousand pounds ***extra*** every year?

  3. ShowerEmbarrassed512 on

    Casual reminder, reform stood a convicted paedophile as a parliamentary candidate. 

  4. The prison service would need a whole lot more money then. I’m assuming that Farage hasn’t costed this.

  5. Puzzleheaded-Car3562 on

    Fully agree. Now, what about the cost of living crisis? Immigration? Inner cities? Crime? Climate change? Brexit?The areas of policy that aren’t ‘no-brainers’?

  6. These kinds of extreme sentences might play well with the base but there is generally no deterrence on crime. Most criminals operate under the assumption that they will not get caught, therefore [extreme sentences rarely deter them](https://www.vera.org/news/research-shows-that-long-prison-sentences-dont-actually-improve-safety).

    In the cases where they do deter is in reporting. Its well-known that most molestation and rape of children is familial. Children will be discouraged from reporting knowing that uncle will be put in prison for the rest of his life. It may even put the child’s life at risk, as if the child is set on reporting, and there is no difference in sentence for murder/rape, the perpetrator may kill to ensure the child’s silence.

    This is the viewpoint of [Amnesty International](https://www.amnesty.org/fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/amr510942006en.pdf) and the [ACLU](https://www.aclu.org/documents/case-against-death-penalty).

    I won’t be shedding any tears for child rapists who are locked up. However the facts seem to indicate that this is not the best way to protect children.

  7. Aspect-Unusual on

    There definately needs to be harsher sentences for this type of crime but im not sure if life sentences is the way to go.

    If you get the same sentence for rape as you do murder wont this make it more likely for the child to be made to vanish since the crime carries the same punishment but one has a victim that can report you and the other doesn’t.

  8. Gobbels diaries: “Propaganda must be emotional, not intellectual.”

    Our prison system based on the CJA 2003 aims for reform and rehabilitation so this isn’t realistic and if anything is a greater risk to the public because there will be a greater chance of freedom if you murder the victim and try to dispose of the body to try and be out in 20.

    I’m obviously not advocating for the perpetrators of these acts but why not just turn back the clock 100 years bringing back capital punishment and or chemical castration? We were supposed to be evolving as a species and becoming more civilised.

  9. There’s a lot of low hanging right-wing fruit like this. The death penalty being another such example.

  10. I thought the whole point of NOT giving rapist such harsh sentences would be that they wouldn’t go further and murder their victims too.