Luke Docherty, who represents multiple clients daily in the Bendigo courts, believes criminals will be discouraged from pleading guilty if they face the prospect of a longer jail term, causing further delays for victims and witnesses.

The Andrews government has proposed to introduce new standard sentences for 13 serious crimes in an effort to force judges to send offenders to prison for longer.

They include a 10-year standard sentence for rape and 25 years for murder.

The move is in response to increased pressure from the Opposition over violent crime in Melbourne, and is expected to be a major battleground in next year’s state election.

Mr Docherty said it was never as simple as introducing tougher sentences to reduce crime.

“If people think they are going to prison for even longer then they will be less likely to plead guilty, which causes more delays and leaves cases hanging over the courts, victims and witnesses for longer,” he said.

“The other problem with locking people up for longer is the availability of programs while they are in prison. We will see more people released from jail without having received the proper support to reduce their risk of re-offending.

“If they aren’t supported properly then they’re going to go back to drugs, alcohol, the lifestyle that led them to commit crimes in the first place.”

In April, Victoria’s prison population reached 7000 for the first time while crime rates continue to rise.

The number of cases sentenced in the Magistrates’ Court in Victoria increased 24 per cent from 2011 to 2016, with almost 100,000 cases in 2015-16.

In Bendigo, the crime rate increased almost 30 per cent from 2015 to 2016, largely driven by an increase in reported thefts.

Apart from driving offences, theft was by far the most common offence followed by breaches of orders, property damage and burglary.

There were 304 sexual offences and seven homicide-related offences in Bendigo in 2016, which would be subject to increased sentences.

Mr Docherty, director of Stuthridge Legal, said the Bendigo courts were only getting busier and busier with more than 100 cases heard on certain days in the week.

He said tougher sentences were rarely a deterrent to crime – and the measure had failed interstate and overseas.

“If increased sentences worked as a deterrent, then there wouldn’t be any murders in US states that have the death penalty,” Mr Docherty said.

“There have been studies that show when people sit through a court case and hear all of the evidence, they end up choosing the same or a more lenient sentence.”

The previous Coalition government’s baseline sentencing scheme was described as “unworkable” in a report by the Sentencing Advisory Council.

In the last three months, the Coalition has issued at least six press releases describing the Andrews government as “soft on crime”, that Victoria is in the grip of a “crime tsunami”, and has outlined its own law and order plans should it be elected.

Opposition leader Matthew Guy plans to introduce statutory minimum jail terms for criminals guilty of a second violence offence.

Sentencing Advisory Council chair Arie Frieberg described the policy plan as “ineffective”, and said offenders paid far more attention to the likelihood of being detected and convicted, rather than the severity of the sentence.