CALL TO RENAME PROBATION SERVICE

A report from the Howard League for Penal Reform suggested the move would help "re-energise" the organisation, which has faced criticism over a number of high-profile failings.

The Howard League also said more than 200,000 people would not become victims of crime if offenders were given community sentences rather than jail terms of less than a year.

Its report said: "It is now time for a new re-energised probation service to emerge.

"The new structure must include a champion who will be the public face of community sentences - something that has never been achieved.

"We propose that the new service is called the Resolution Service, to reflect the fundamental principles of healing the damage done by crime, the involvement of victims, and that the penal system is finite in both objectives and time."

It added: "The Resolution Service would be based on a new social contract between communities and offenders, based on mutual respect and commonly agreed outcomes.

"We suggest that community panels be established to consult local people about community sentences and, in particular, unpaid work."

It calculated that replacing jail sentences of less than 12 months would result in 13,567 fewer reconvictions.

Because official estimates say a further 15 offences per person are committed following release from prison within two years, the total number of victims is 203,505, it added.