A Labour candidate in the forthcoming elections for Police & Crime Commissioners in England and Wales has pulled out of the race.
Bob Ashford, who has a criminal conviction dating back 46 years to when he was a boy, told the Today programme that he is "extremely disappointed by the message it sends to all young people".
He said that one of the central messages society gives to young offenders is that "if they mature, they grow, they stop offending then we as a society will forgive them and will help rehabilitate them".
"This is lazy legislation," he told James Naughtie.
Get in touch with Today via
email
,
Twitter
or
Facebook
or text us on 84844.
BBC NEWS CHANNEL
Bookmark with:
What are these?
E-mail this to a friend