His trip to Pentonville Prison in North London underlines the fact that crime will be a key issue in the forthcoming election. ITN gives you a breakdown of the crime levels in your area. The figures are from the latest Home Office statistics released in January. They detail the statistics in England and Wales in the 12 months to September 2000.
Persistent criminals are to face tougher punishments under proposed new laws.
The plans, being revealed by Tony Blair, will allow judges to take greater account of their records when sentencing. The 10-year plan to tackle crime will offer offenders greater help with rehabilitation, through better drug treatment, education and skills training in jails and help with jobs and housing on release. But they will be warned that if they fail to take advantage of this help and end up before the courts once more, they can expect to be dealt with far more severely. Ministers believe that just 100,000 offenders are responsible for half the country's crime. Some 90,000 people are released from British jails each year, of whom 46,000 have served sentences of less than 12 months.