STRAW 'DRIVEN NUTS' BY JARGON

In an outspoken attack on prison reformers, Justice Secretary Jack Straw said the words they used "drive me nuts".

He said campaign groups were "lost in a fog of platitudes" and were guilty of overlooking the suffering of victims.

He identified the phrase "criminogenic needs of offenders" for particular criticism, saying it created a "barrier" between experts and the public.

"I profoundly disagree that we should describe someone's amoral desire to go thieving as a 'need' equivalent to that of victims or the law abiding public," he said.

But a search of Government websites reveals a string of documents using the same phrase.

A document published on the Home Office website and dated last week describes the "multi-agency work providing supportive interventions to address the criminogenic needs of identified PPOs (Prolific and other Priority Offenders)."

A research document, published on Mr Straw's own Ministry of Justice site this month says prisoners have "criminogenic needs" that need support.

The phrase also appears in an MoJ review of indeterminate sentences published last year.

A spokeswoman for the Campaign for Plain English said ministers should tackle their own "fog of jargon".