Labour backs 'Face the Family' campaign

The Shadow Justice Secretary Steve Reed says he, and the Labour party, support a campaign calling for a change in law to compel offenders to appear in court for sentencing.

Last week, 9-year-old Olivia Pratt Korbel's murderer refused to come up from the cells to be sentenced, and the hearing took place in his absence.

He was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 42 years.

Steve Reed is backing our campaign to make it mandatory for criminals to attend their sentencing. He said: “I fully support, and Labour fully supports the campaign to get convicts to stand up in court and face the consequences of their actions when they are being sentenced.

"I think it's grossly offensive and disrespectful to victims and their families that criminals are able to avoid being present for sentencing.

“It could be done as an amendment to the victims bill which is going through parliament at the moment. We could make this change, and we could compel criminals to attend court to hear the victim statements when they're being read out in court and to face their sentence when the judge is reading it out.

"It’s really important that happens because it's grossly offensive to victims and their families for a criminal to avoid facing the consequences for their crimes.”

By law, defendants are allowed to choose not to attend their sentencing hearing – prompting recent outrage from campaigners, who say this denies victims and their families the chance to see justice being served.

Justice Secretary Dominic Raab has previously said he is planning to change the law to “compel” the “spineless criminals” to face up to their actions by possibly giving judges power to impose longer terms on those who refuse to appear.

What is the petition calling for?

The petition is calling for the government to introduce new laws which order an offender to be present in court for sentencing or face further punishment.

Following a number of high-profile cases where serious criminal offenders refused to be in the dock when their sentence is passed down, it is petitioning for a change in the law so they can be ordered to appear.

It calls for prison and court staff to be given powers to use reasonable force to get offenders into the dock - as they do to transfer them from a court to prison.

Why are there calls for this?

Families say they are currently being deprived the opportunity of gaining full closure and offenders have the power to deny them that.

They are calling for a shift in the law so that it empowers victims families and gives them every chance to witness justice be delivered.

When and how can I sign the petition?

You can sign the petition now by clicking here

• face the family