Drug dealers will face shorter jail sentences, with some offenders getting as little as two years behind bars, under proposals published today.
Offenders selling heroin, ecstasy and crack cocaine in large quantities are expected to get jail terms cut by around two years.
It will bring the time behind bars into line with terms dished out for rapists and those causing death by dangerous driving.
A panel of legal experts have put forward the proposals after finding there was 'no evidence' that long jail terms were an effective deterrent or cost-effective.
Instead, the Government's Sentencing Advisory Panel believe courts should seize their cash and any assets bought with drugs money.
Currently less than 15 per cent of drug offenders have had their assets taken by the courts.
Under the new proposals, couriers and drug mules who bring illegal substances into Britain will face shorter sentences if the courts ruled they had a minor role in the criminal organisation.
It would mean someone caught with 5kg of cocaine could be jailed for as little as two years if the court believed they were a 'naive' subordinate.
The panel, made up of judges, academics and other senior figures from the criminal justice system, questioned whether sentences for importing class A drugs should exceed those for rape or causing death by dangerous driving.
In their report, Sentencing for Drug Offences, they said: 'Imprisoning drug offenders for relatively substantial periods of time does not appear to represent a cost-effective response.'
For more than 30 years, judges have followed a Court of Appeal ruling which said 'anything which the courts in this country can do by way of deterrent sentences on those found guilty of crimes involving class A drugs should be done'.
In 2004 the average sentence for importing drugs was seven years.
Rapists were on average jailed for six years and eight months and the offence of causing death by dangerous driving brought an average term of three years and eight months.
Panel chairman Andrew Ashworth said: 'We are not suggesting in any way that drug offences have become less serious or that a robust sentencing approach is not appropriate.
'But our provisional view is that current sentencing levels sometimes go beyond the levels that are justified by the seriousness of individual offences.
'We have compared them with the starting points for other serious crimes such as rape and grievous bodily harm and we want to know what other people think about comparative levels of sentences. continues here
Offenders selling heroin, ecstasy and crack cocaine in large quantities are expected to get jail terms cut by around two years.
It will bring the time behind bars
A panel of legal experts have put forward the proposals after finding there was 'no evidence' that long jail terms were an effective deterrent or cost-effective.
Instead, the Government's Sentencing Advisory Panel believe courts should seize their cash and any assets bought with drugs money.
Currently less than 15 per cent of drug offenders have had their assets taken by the courts.
Under the new proposals, couriers and drug mules who bring illegal substances into Britain will face shorter sentences if the courts ruled they had a minor role in the criminal organisation.
It would mean someone caught with 5kg of cocaine could be jailed for as little as two years if the court believed they were a 'naive' subordinate.
The panel, made up of judges, academics and other senior figures from the criminal justice system, questioned whether sentences for importing class A drugs should exceed those for rape or causing death by dangerous driving.
In their report, Sentencing for Drug Offences, they said: 'Imprisoning drug offenders for relatively substantial periods of time does not appear to represent a cost-effective response.'
For more than 30 years, judges have followed a Court of Appeal ruling which said 'anything which the courts in this country can do by way of deterrent sentences on those found guilty of crimes involving class A drugs should be done'.
In 2004 the average sentence for importing drugs was seven years.
Rapists were on average jailed for six years and eight months and the offence of causing death by dangerous driving brought an average term of three years and eight months.
Panel chairman Andrew Ashworth said: 'We are not suggesting in any way that drug offences have become less serious or that a robust sentencing approach is not appropriate.
'But our provisional view is that current sentencing levels sometimes go beyond the levels that are justified by the seriousness of individual offences.
'We have compared them with the starting points for other serious crimes such as rape and grievous bodily harm and we want to know what other people think about comparative levels of sentences. continues here
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