Thousands of shoplifters are to avoid jail each year under plans to ban jail sentences of less than 12 months in England and Wales.

Despite a widely publicised ‘action plan’ to crack down on retail crime in August, figures released by the Ministry of Justice show shoplifters are the biggest beneficiaries of the Government’s October plan to end short jail terms in favour of suspended sentences and community service.

The Guardian reported on a statement from justice minister Edward Argar showing 5,289 shoplifters were jailed for less than 12 months in 2022. The figures show shoplifters to be the most common recipients of these short sentences. Under the short custodial sentence ban, all of these would have avoided time behind bars.

Last week, former Home Secretary Suella Braverman described the Government’s sentencing reforms stating: “The sentencing bill aims to ease pressure on the prison estate but in my opinion will put public safety at risk, place an undue burden on the police and probation service and potentially lead to an increase in crime.”

Labour’s shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry also attacked the plans stating: “Shopkeepers need to know they will get results if they report these incidents. If not, we are going to get a vicious circle where the thieves know they can get away with whatever they like, their raids will become ever more frequent and violent, and shop staff will feel increasingly helpless to do anything about it.”

Justice secretary Alex Chalk defended the short sentence ban stating: “ Judges will still be able to send shoplifters to prison, including when offenders are in breach of a court order.

“And under our plans, we’ll have twice as many tags available so that prolific shoplifters can be tracked 24 hours a day, while they pay for their crimes by cleaning up our streets.”

Critics of short sentences argue that they fail to rehabilitate criminals or deter crime. For instance, figures show that despite a 29% increase in shoplifting charges in 2023, incidents of shoplifting still increased by 24% year on year. Organisations including the ACS argue that better rehabilitation for offenders with drug and alcohol addictions is key to breaking cycles of reoffending.