The widow of a man who was murdered by youths he challenged outside their Warrington home has launched a passionate defence of the Government's controversial criminal justice reforms.
Baroness Newlove welcomed the Government's commitment to put victims at the heart of its reforms, insisting the criminal justice system was "creaking at the seams" and needed overhauling.
In second reading debate on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, Lady Newlove pointed to reoffending rates and said: "Something's broken and needs urgent fixing.
"The scales of justice have tipped too far to the rights and needs of the offenders. They must be balanced towards the victims."
Lady Newlove, whose husband Garry was attacked by a gang vandalising his car, told peers: "We need to restore confidence in the judicial process."
Mitigating factors like bad parenting could influence an individual to commit crimes: "But this can never be a cloak to excuse criminal behaviour. Ultimately it is down to individual choice and we must do all we can to inform and educate."
Lady Newlove, who now campaigns as a government adviser against the drink culture and to provide support for young people, said she was not speaking from a "vengeful or bitter platform".
She could not turn back the clock. But victims wanted to stop what had happened to them, from happening to anyone else.
The Tory peer said: "I welcome the Bill's promise to simplify release and recall arrangements and clarify the statutory duty to explain a sentence."
The Bill may not be perfect but it went a long way to righting wrongs in the current system and reassure the public with "common-sense" new laws: "Instead of back seat passengers, victims, at last, have been invited into the front seat and even given the wheel occasionally to take their rightful place on the journey."