It looks like proposed Violent Offender Orders will cause yet another split between government and the judges.

The Guardian reports:

Senior judges have warned ministers they risk a re-run of their clash with the courts over control orders by introducing new proposals that will place “massive restrictions” on certain convicted violent offenders after they have left prison.

The problems are not only those of proportionality and practicality raised by the judges. If those who breach orders face a five-year prison sentence, there’s bound to be a knock-on effect on prison numbers, already at record highs. Probation officers are already massively overworked, and it isn’t clear how they will find the time and resources to enforce VOOs as welll.

Perhaps the government should revisit Ming Campbell’s proposals for a more proportionate and manageable Violent Offenders Register, first suggested in May 2006. It has the clear advantage that it might actually help instead of hinder the criminal justice system…

We all know that the Labour Government doesn’t have the best track record of delivering IT projects on budget and on time (and we’re not even going to mention ID cards). So it’s with a heavy heart that I bring you news of another Whitehall computer-related farce, this time from the shiny new Ministry of Justice.

The National Offender Management System was supposed to keep tabs on the country’s 300,000 prisoners and probationers. The budget for the system of £234 million has, according to The Guardian, “proved to be optimistic” - with the current estimate for the project reaching four times that, well on its way to £1 billion. Consequently, the Government has now frozen the whole project and cancelled the rollout to thirty more prisons that was supposed to happen by the end of the year.

The Ministry of Justice last night confirmed that a “rapid review” of the custody-Noms information system, officially known as C-Nomis, is under way. Ministers are to decide in mid-September how much of the project can be salvaged. It is expected that it will be adopted in a scaled-down form for the 140 prisons in England and Wales but is unlikely to be rolled out across the probation service. Cancellation could involve paying the contractors, EDS, a £50m penalty.

The Government has spent £155m so far on the project. Value for money, as ever.

Read the full story here.