He said these included commitments to reduce the level of serious crime, using more effective and appropriate sentences to tackle crime against older and vulnerable people, and improving community safety.

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It called for "effective and dissuasive" sentences in such cases to deter would-be criminals, including bigger asset seizures by the authorities.

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But the Criminal Justice Alliance, a coalition of 70 organisations including campaigning charities, said its research suggested community penalties remained at least 8% more effective than short prison sentences at reducing reoffending.

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Thus, even though judges routinely state that increasingly harsh sentences are an effective general deterrent to those who contemplate committing a white collar crime, the fact is that white collar crime continues to take place at a substantial rate.

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He highlighted the introduction of community payback orders which he said were an effective alternative to short term prison sentences.

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Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat Sir Alan Beith, who chairs the justice committee, said it was difficult for the judges to know which sentences were the most effective.

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Prison Reform Trust director Juliet Lyon said prisons would not be effective while they were "crammed full of people serving short, meaningless sentences for petty crimes".

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Mr Grayling has said he is a supporter of what's called the "rehabilitation revolution" - looking at ways to prevent reoffending with "more effective" sentencing policies, particularly the use of restorative justice and robust community sentences delivered by the private and voluntary sectors on a payments by results basis.

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