Hertfordshire police and crime commissioner David Lloyd is calling for greater clarity around the sentencing of offenders.
At present offenders serve half of their allocated sentence in prison but are then released subject to good behaviour and serve the rest of their sentence in the community.
Mr Lloyd says he supports the rehabilitation process but objects to the lack of information about it which can lead to victims discovering their attacker will be out of prison earlier than expected.
He said: "A 10-year sentence, for example, doesn’t mean 10 years in prison - it is likely to be only half this and a lot of people, not just their victims, are surprised by that.
"I’m not necessarily calling for increased prison sentences across the board - just more clarity and honesty that explains what a sentence means, in detail, before and during the court process.
"I want to raise awareness among the wider public about the sentencing processes to reassure victims, and the general public, that criminals are not just being turfed out of prison to go straight back into a life of crime."
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