Deputy Leader of the Labour Party backs our 'Face the Family' campaign

The Deputy Leader of the Labour party is criticising the government for not acting more quickly to allow judges the power to give longer sentences to criminals who refuse to leave their cells to be sentenced.

Backing our 'Face the Family' campaign Angela Raynor said;

"Thirteen years the government have been in power, they could have amended this and we've seen the dithering and delay like in a lot of things, it's a managed decline that we are seeing that actually we should really be on the side of victims now and putting them first."

"I don't think people should be able to walk away from that and not listen to what happens in court, they should be in attendance".

"Kier is (also) fully behind this campaign to make sure that happens. We saw it in two tragic cases recently with Zara Aleena and the young girl in Liverpool and it shouldn't be right that they can walk away and not face justice."

"Those families had to go through the ordeal of the trial and go through the torment of re-living what happened to their loved ones, the perpetrators of those crimes should be there and held to account and listen to the devastation that happens there."

What is our petition calling for?

We're calling for the government to introduce new laws which order an offender to be present in court for sentencing or face further punishment.

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

We want 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 we calling for this?

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

We want 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?

Our official government petition is live now, you can sign it here

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