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UK criminal justice | Law | The Guardian

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Victoria was sentenced to 21 months but has served 15 years. Even the politician who introduced indefinite detention now says he regrets it, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

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CPS accused of betraying rape victims as prosecutions hit record low

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Victims’ commissioner for England and Wales criticises CPS’s ‘woeful’ performance as prosecutions drop 26% in a year

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Law and Order News Link

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The latest breaking news, comment and features from The Independent.

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Law in Action

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Listen to Law in Action on Spotify. Joshua Rozenberg presents Radio 4's long-running legal magazine programme, featuring reports and discussion on matters relating to law

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True Crime Podcast

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Listen to UK True Crime Podcast on Spotify. The weekly UK True Crime Podcast, hosted by Adam, is the home of UK true crime. With a new episode every Tuesday since 2016, it is where you discover lesser known UK cases and discover new perspectives and insight on stories you may already know.

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Improper, immoral, and illegal police conduct example

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Two Metropolitan Police officers and a former officer who were charged over sharing offensive WhatsApp messages with Sarah Everard's killer have been named.

PC Jonathon Cobban, PC William Neville, and ex-constable Joel Borders are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 16 March, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said.

Cobban and Borders have been charged with five counts of sending grossly offensive messages, while Neville has been charged with two counts of the same offence.

According to the IOPC, the alleged offences occurred between April and August 2019.

Last week when the charges were first announced, the CPS said that it could not release their names due to "operational reasons".

The head of the CPS Special Crime Division, Rosemary Ainslie, said: "Each of the three defendants has been charged with sending grossly offensive messages on a public communications network.

"The alleged offences took place on a WhatsApp group chat."
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She added: "The function of the CPS is not to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offence, but to make fair, independent and objective assessments about whether it is appropriate to present charges to a court to consider.

"Criminal proceedings are active and nothing should be published that could jeopardise the defendants' right to a fair trial."

Sarah Everard was raped and murdered last year by serving Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens, who is now serving a whole life order.

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Police officers charged over sharing offensive messages with Sarah Everard's killer named

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Two Metropolitan Police officers and a former officer who were charged over sharing offensive WhatsApp messages with Sarah Everard's killer have been named. PC Jonathon Cobban, PC William Neville, and ex-constable Joel Borders are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 16 March, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said.

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Useful website for case finding and more

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Find out how LawTeacher can help YOU Law Teacher is a Nottingham-based company who aim to be the ultimate supplier of educational law support. From academic law support services to free resources and legal materials, we're here to help you at every stage of your education. View our service portfolio

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The One Punch Campaign and the law on fatal offences.

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Trevor Timon has been convicted of killing bank worker Oliver Dearlove with a single punch. It's not the first case of its kind to make headlines, but how does one punch kill someone and what are the consequences for those involved?

Robert Holland had been on a rare night out after months of working seven-day weeks.

Before the 36-year-old went to the Oceana nightclub in Nottingham, he phoned his mother, Therese, to tell her he would visit her the next day.

It was the last time they spoke.

Hours later, in the early morning of 28 October 2011, Robert suffered fatal brain injuries from just one punch.

Therese learned what had happened later that morning when police visited her home.

"When they told me I was just screaming," she said. "I even punched them and told them to get out of my house, telling them how dare they tell me lies."

Robert's death was caused by the force of one punch severing an artery in his brain.

Liam Rockley, a 21-year-old former bouncer, later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.

'Just as lethal'

Robert's death is far from an isolated case.

While no official figures are available on one-punch deaths, the campaign group One Punch Can Kill has recorded more than 80 fatalities since 2007.

Many of the cases have attracted media attention - in large part because it seems extraordinary that one punch can kill.

But Duncan Bew, a consultant in trauma and acute care at King's College Hospital, said this reflects a fundamental lack of understanding.

"People are very much focused on penetrating injuries, but actually punching someone in the head can be just as lethal," he said.

Mr Bew said deaths from one punch tended to happen in one of three ways.

Sometimes, as in Robert's case, the blow itself will cause fatal damage to the brain. Alternatively, it could cause a physiological response where people stop breathing and the brain is starved of oxygen.

But in other cases, a punch will cause a person to lose consciousness and strike their head on a hard surface.

The impact is similar to being hit over the head with a block of concrete, Mr Bew said.

'Silly row'

Many one-punch killings involve young men, often in drink-fuelled, random acts of violence.

But Finola Farrant, a criminologist at the University of Roehampton, said the circumstances of cases often varied dramatically.

These can range from unprovoked assaults, to people who have landed fatal blows in self-defence.

In some cases arguments between close friends have resulted in a fatal punch.

Last October, Richard Eveleigh was jailed for killing his best friend of 45 years, Paul Lightowler, with a single punch in what the court heard was a "silly" row.

Dr Farrant said the question for courts to explore in these cases was the extent to which defendants should be culpable for someone's death when they may not have intended - or even realised - that one punch could kill.

Indeed, such is the shock of those unintended consequences that the attackers and their families may come to see themselves as victims too, she added.

Jacob Dunne was 19 when he killed 28-year-old trainee paramedic James Hodgkinson with one punch in 2011.

He was sentenced to 30 months' imprisonment for manslaughter.

After his release, Jacob agreed to answer questions from James's parents about what happened as part of a scheme called Restorative Justice.

Later he met them in person, and keen to show them he was turning his life around, he re-took his GCSEs, did an Access course for university, and is now studying criminology at Nottingham Trent University.

Jacob, now 24, says he believes one-punch deaths, and violent crime in general, could be reduced by teaching children emotional wellbeing in schools.

"A lot of this aggression stems from people not being in control of their emotions.

"In reality people need to ask the question 'why are you fighting on the weekends?' The answer is going to be different for everyone."

Jacob now speaks in schools about his experience and in December gave a talk to the TED conference.

He remains in touch with James's parents.

For those affected by one-punch deaths, the end of the court process can signal the end of formal support and counselling.

That lack of support contributed to Ann Bartlett setting up One Punch Can Kill in 2010.

Her son, Kyle, a 21-year-old Royal Navy sailor, suffered a fatal brain injury after being punched in Portsmouth on 5 May 2009.

"Our message is: 'Be a hero and walk away from a fight'", Ann says.

The question of how the number of one-punch deaths can be reduced is one both Ann and Therese believe needs to be considered by lawmakers.

Both want sentences to be toughened to match Australia, where there is a minimum of eight years for one-punch killings.

Currently in the UK, the attacks are usually treated as manslaughter and often result in custodial sentences of fewer than five years.

But Dr Farrant said she was doubtful specific guidelines around one-punch deaths would help.

"We've got a very experienced judiciary who can hear and understand the nuances of individual cases that are so markedly different," she said.

Mr Bew said the UK should consider following Australia's lead by introducing padded flooring outsides pubs, bars and nightclubs.

But one area all four agree on is the need for a high-profile campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of one punch.

"Perhaps they need to have signs up in nightclubs, 'think before you punch' and things like that." Therese said.

Remembering Robert, she added: "He had such plans and he wanted to be a dad. That's never going to happen.

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One-punch deaths: How lives are devastated by a single blow

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Trevor Timon has been convicted of killing bank worker Oliver Dearlove with a single punch. It's not the first case of its kind to make headlines, but how does one punch kill someone and what are the consequences for those involved? Robert Holland had been on a rare night out after months of working seven-day weeks.

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Campaign to 'fix' our justice system

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Due to many years of underinvestment our criminal justice system is crumbling.

Things are going wrong at every level and every stage. It's become a nightmare journey through the system for the accused, for victims and for solicitors alike.

We're calling on government to address the problems by adopting our policy recommendations on criminal justice.
Find out how we're defending the future of criminal legal aid
Support the campaign by sharing our messages on criminal justice on LinkedIn or Twitter.
Read more about the Criminal Bar Association strike
Problems facing the system

Increasing shortages of criminal duty solicitors

Within five years, there could be areas in England and Wales where people who have been arrested will not be able to access a duty solicitor. This means they won't be able to get the free legal advice they're entitled to.
Check if your local area is short on criminal duty solicitors Read more about the criminal legal aid review
The means test for criminal legal aid is too restrictive

People on low incomes aren't able to access legal advice, or are having to pay contributions towards it which are higher than they can afford.
Find out how the means test is changing Read our 2018 report on legal aid means testing
Inefficiencies and unfairness in the system

Cases in court are often 'double booked', so some hearings get cancelled at the last minute. Things like this waste the accused's and their solicitor's time and increase costs.

Release under investigation and pre-charge bail

The use of release under investigation (RUI) has increased dramatically since changes were placed on the use of bail in 2017.

The RUI procedure has no time limit and no conditions are placed on release. This means that the accused, and victims, are left in limbo for long periods.
Read more about RUI
In May 2020, we responded to the government's consultation on pre-charge bail, supporting the proposed model that retains the shortest of time limits in relation to pre-charge bail.

The government's reform of pre-charge bail is part of the Police, Crime and Sentencing and Courts Bill, on which we'll be briefing parliament.
Read our response
More and more courts are being closed

Defendants and witnesses are having to make unreasonably long and expensive journeys to court.
Find out more about court closures
Crucial evidence is often not disclosed

Important evidence sometimes is not made available until the last minute, or isn't disclosed at all. This can mean the difference between freedom and imprisonment.

All of these problems show the criminal justice system is at breaking point. Without urgent action, it will fall apart.

Our parliamentary briefings

We asked government to spend more money to help resolve criminal justice issues.
Read our January 2019 parliamentary briefing
We've raised concerns about the impact changes to pre-charge bail and the increased use of remote hearings will have upon court users, as well as the importance of funding the criminal justice system properly.
Read our 2021 parliamentary briefings on the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill
A journey through the broken criminal justice system

Our video tells the story of Peter, who is on a night out with friends when a fight breaks out. Although he was not involved in the fight, Peter finds himself charged with affray.

It's just the beginning of a nightmare journey through the criminal justice system.

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Fix the broken system - back our criminal justice campaign

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Due to many years of underinvestment our criminal justice system is crumbling. We're calling on government to address the problems.

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Overview of the Criminal Courts

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Should punishment extend to the death penalty in the UK?

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Tory MP asks government to consider bringing back death penalty

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Former minister John Hayes urges justice secretary to consider ‘potential merits’ of hanging violent criminals

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BBC Crime News Link

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All the latest news about Crime from the BBC

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MP calls for reforms on the law of Murder

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Senior MPs are calling on the government to review "outdated" murder laws which they claim have led to dozens of wrongful convictions.

Labour's Lucy Powell and David Lammy and Conservative Bob Neill are among those who want Theresa May to examine the use of Joint Enterprise in murder cases - a common law doctrine which means multiple people can be convicted on an equal basis for the same crime.

The MPs say the system has led to many people - particularly from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds - being sent to prison for something they didn't do, and continues to be used regularly despite a Supreme Court ruling that the law had "taken a wrong turn" more than 30 years ago.

They have secured a backbench business committee debate, supported by colleagues including Hilary Benn, Robert Courts, Chuka Umunna, Peter Bottomley and Jess Phillips, which will take place in the Commons on Thursday.

Powell, Labour's former shadow education secretary, said: "Campaigners thought that after the Supreme Court ruling, the criminal justice system would re-set itself on Joint Enterprise and the police, CPS and judges would take note of the Supreme Court ruling and ensure the law took the right, rather than the wrong turn it has done for the last 30 years.

"This clearly isn't the case, as I know from a recent trial in my own area. It's time for Parliamentarians to have their say, and represent the views of those concerned about the lack of action in this area.

"It can't be right that there has been no material change since the Supreme Court ruling. This debate gives Parliament the chance to make its view clear and for ministers to listen and act to ensure the law is clarified and we put an end to these injustices."

Thousands of people have been prosecuted under Joint Enterprise in the last decade alone. Academics have warned against evidence of its over-use against young BME people, due to an unfair association with gangs and the deliberate use of Joint Enterprise as a deterrent to those in them.

The MPs say people can be wrongly charged and convicted when they have been within close proximity of a crime, have a random connection with the perpetrator or via a text or mistaken phonecall.

Neill, chair of the justice select committee, said: "This issue has been put on the government's 'too difficult to do pile' for far too long.

"All the while the current system remains in place, we continue to run the risk of serious injustices.

"A number of recent cases have shown why it's so important that we take a fresh look at the law on homicide, as the Law Commission, among others, has been saying for some time.

"I welcome this opportunity for Members of Parliament from across the House to make clear to the government the strength of feeling that exists on this matter."

As part of his review into the treatment of BME people in the criminal justice system, Tottenham MP Lammy said up to half of those convicted under Joint Enterprise were from a Black, Asian or ethnic minority background.

He added: "We will not deal with gangs and organised crime through joint enterprise or focusing on minors. We can only deal with these problems by focusing on the gang leaders and kingpins who are driving violence by trafficking drugs, exploiting young people and arming them to defend gang territory or seek out new drug markets."

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MPs Urge Government To Review Law In Murder Cases

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Senior MPs are calling on the government to review "outdated" murder laws which they claim have led to dozens of wrongful convictions. Labour's Lucy Powell and David Lammy and Conservative Bob Neill are among those who want Theresa May to examine the use of Joint Enterprise in murder cases - a common law doctrine which means multiple people can be convicted on an equal basis for the same crime.

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Law Talks Podcast

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Join Ellie and Katie, two aspiring lawyers, as they discuss deepfakes and how criminal lawyers have engaged with such difficult topics in the courtroom. Following this, an interview with Alice Robertson Rickard, a part-time Judge of the First-tier Tribunal. Listen in to hear all about Alice’s journe…

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Role of the Jury

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Criticism of CPS

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Rape cases where a woman was held at knife point, a film of an attack was found on a suspect's phone and an alleged perpetrator admitted the offence in text messages are among those dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service, documents shared with the Guardian reveal.

The details have emerged in papers that are to be submitted to an ongoing government review of how rape is treated throughout the criminal justice system. They include statements from dozens of rape victims whose cases were not prosecuted and an account by a CPS whistleblower.

Reported rapes have increased steadily over the past decade and more than 58,000 were recorded by police in England and Wales in 2018/19. However, charges, prosecutions and convictions for rape in cases brought by the CPS have fallen to their lowest levels in more than a decade. The decline is a key area of inquiry in the review.

The previously unpublished evidence and detailed legal arguments, shared exclusively with the Guardian, have been compiled by the Centre for Women's Justice on behalf of End Violence Against Women (EVAW), a coalition of women's groups, and passed to justice secretary Robert Buckland, chair of the Criminal Justice Board that established the review.

In an unusual move, EVAW will publish the documents ahead of a fresh legal challenge against the CPS. The group will mount an appeal over whether the prosecution service adopted a secret policy in rape investigations to drop supposedly "weak" cases in order to boost conviction rates.

Whistleblower testimony, which is included in the documents published today, details how CPS prosecutors were allegedly given guidance at training workshops on how to meet conviction targets with "the removal of hundreds of 'weak' cases from the criminal justice system which are less likely to find favour with a jury". The whistleblower claimedthe guidance had led to a risk-averse approach to the prosecution of rape, where myths and stereotypes could lead prosecutors to drop cases.

The dossier of rape cases where the CPS reportedly declined to bring charges includes one case where the CPS gave the fact that the survivor had "enjoyed an adventurous sex life" as a reason not to charge.

Earlier this year, the high court denied the EVAW coalition permission to pursue their case to go to a full hearing. The court of appeal has now agreed to hear an appeal against that decision.

Q&A
Why has the charge rate for rape fallen in England and Wales?

The charge or summons rate for rape fell to one in 65, or 1.5%, of all cases reported to the police in England and Wales in 2018-19, according to the Home Office. The figure has dropped steeply since 2015-16, when one in seven, or 13.7%, of all cases resulted in a charge or summons. New figures from the CPS show the number of cases referred by the police for charging decisions fell again by 32% in the year to September 2019.

A recent report by the Crown Prosecution Service inspectorate concluded the service was not to blame for a precipitous drop in rape charges, but that the system - and in particular police-led investigations - was under-resourced to "breaking point".

This is disputed by a coalition of women's rights groups who launched a legal challenge against the CPS in September 2019.

Rape is a notoriously difficult crime to prosecute primarily because it comes down to the question of consent, often in a situation where there are only two people. In these cases evidence beyond the word of the victim or defendant is seen as central to building a strong case. Digital evidence requested from complainants, such as data, location information and texts from phones, is time-consuming to investigate. In 2018, more than half of all rape cases took more than 100 days to assign an outcome.

A charge or summons is one of the steps in proceeding to a trial. Even if a suspect is charged a case may be dropped; and if it proceeds to court a conviction is less likely than it was a decade ago.

Thank you for your feedback.

At issue is whether the CPS adopted a substantive policy, not acknowledged publicly, in late 2016 to adopt a target of 60% of charged cases resulting in a conviction or if, as the CPS claims, its internal refresher training sessions for prosecutors were merely a "gentle touch on the tiller".

EVAW alleges that the "merits-based" approach of pursuing all cases where there is credible evidence has been replaced by a "bookmaker's test" approach where they guess the probability of a jury convicting on the evidence and become reluctant to press ahead with more difficult rape cases.

In the hearing this March, counsel for the CPS denied that there had been a change in policy, stating that: "The fall of conviction rates is due to a far wider range of factors involving the police that are now the subject of a government review."

There has been a "precipitous drop" in prosecution rates for rape, falling to their lowest level in a decade despite a sharp increase in the number of cases being reported to police.

A review of the latest CPS charging statistics included in the evidence submitted show only one in three rape cases resulted in a charge between April and September 2018.

Others, including a controversial report from Her Majesty's Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI), have blamed the steep decline on lack of police and CPS resources due to austerity cuts as well as the massive increase in workload involved in most cases due to the availability of digital downloads from complainants' and defendants' mobile phones.

The collapse of a series of rape cases in 2017 also raised concerns about whether sufficient effort was being put into disclosure of crucial evidence - further adding to the burdens on officers and prosecutors.

The documents released online on Tuesday are part of the claim submitted to the court in March. Because that hearing was halted at the preliminary, permission stage much of it has not been widely publicised.

Sue Hemming, CPS director of legal services, said: "We share the concerns about the gap between reported rapes and those cases which come to court. However, the judgment of the High Court was clear: there has been no change of approach in how CPS prosecutes rape. They found that there was no arguable basis for EVAW's claims.

"The independent inspectorate report on rape found the same, concluding our legal test was correctly applied in 98% of cases they examined.

"We are focused on understanding the charging gap and will shortly announce further plans to help secure justice for everybody affected by sexual violence."

EVAW has previously been highly successful in challenging legal decisions, while Harriet Wistrich of the Centre for Women's Justice brought a successful case over the police's failure to carry out effective investigations into victims of the serial sex attacker John Worboys.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Justice said it has committed to publishing an action plan in relation to the end-to-end review this year and it will respond to the letter in due course.

This article was amended on 30 June 2020 to clarify the involvement of the Centre for Women's Justice in compiling the dossier of rape cases and bringing the John Worboys challenge.

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CPS secretly dropped 'weak' rape cases, say rights groups

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Rape cases where a woman was held at knife point, a film of an attack was found on a suspect's phone and an alleged perpetrator admitted the offence in text messages are among those dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service, documents shared with the Guardian reveal.

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Prison Reform Trust: Sentencing Articles

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Commenting on the publication of today's (25 November) prison population projections by the Ministry of Justice, Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust said:

"The latest projection for the prison population will be portrayed by ministers as a policy success, with more criminals brought to justice. But the detail actually contains multiple admissions of failure. The government is recruiting 23,400 police officers but has no idea whether their time is to be spent preventing crime or chasing after it. Action to reduce reoffending is promised but apparently will have no impact. A strategy to reduce the imprisonment of women will fail so completely that the female prison population will grow by over a third. Inadequate support in the community for people on indeterminate sentences will mean that even more are being needlessly recalled to prison. By 2025, around 30% of our prison population will be over 50 years old, when the peak age for offending is people in their late twenties.

"The price of all these failures is an extra 18,000 people in prison by 2025, costing us all an additional £800m every year, not to mention the £4bn already put aside to build the cells to house them. Exactly why, uniquely in western Europe, we need to lock up so many of our fellow citizens, is never explained. It's a foolish waste of scarce resources, driven by politics, not evidence."

Ahead of next Monday's House of Lords Committee Stage debate, we've published two joint briefings on amendments to the Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill. The amendments would reform the IPP sentence; and introduce judicial oversight for a new power allowing the government to prevent automatic release.

You can read the joint briefing in support of amendments relating to the sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection by clicking here.

The second briefing in support of greater judicial oversight is available to read by clicking here.

The last 20 years has seen a dramatic increase in the number of people serving long prison sentences a new briefing published by the Prison Reform Trust today [4 October] reveals.

The briefing has been produced as part of the Prison Reform Trust's Building Futures project, a five-year project funded by the National Lottery Community Fund to explore the experiences of people who will spend 10 or more years in custody.

Sentences for more serious crimes have become longer and far more people will now spend 10 or more years held in prison. Meeting the challenges of this change will shape the prison landscape for the foreseeable future, the briefing says.

Click 'read more' for the full story

The Prison Reform Trust has published a briefing on the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill for the House of Lords second reading debate on the Bill which is taking place on Tuesday 14 September.

The briefing highlights particular concerns relating to the provisions of Part 7 of the Bill on sentencing and release. It also focusses on a key omission the Bill - the opportunity presented by the legislation to reform the indeterminate sentence of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP).

The Sentencing Council has published new guidelines for sentencing modern slavery offences, after consultation on the proposed guidelines earlier this year.

PRT provided detailed evidence to the consultation on the proposed guideline and welcome publication of the new guideline.

In particular, we are pleased to see changes made by the Council to the guideline include two recommendations put forward in PRT evidence to the consultation:

The guideline now recognises previous victimisation as a factor indicating reduced culpability (this change is based on a recommendation made by the Sentencing Academy and supported by PRT)

The guideline now has reduced sentencing levels including more options for community penalties at the lower end of culpability and harm

Our full submission to the Council's consultation is available here.

The Council's response to the consultation is available here.

Prisoner numbers in England and Wales are projected to rise by one quarter (20,000) over the next five years. But there are no plans either to reduce overcrowding or close prisons that are clearly unfit for purpose. Efforts by the prison service to recover from the impact of the global pandemic will be fatally undermined as a result, according to a new report published today (5 July 2021) by the Prison Reform Trust.

The report, Prison: the facts, highlights Ministry of Justice prison population projections that predict a rise to 98,700 people from the current level of 77,912 (4 June 2021) by 2026. This is due to the impact of inflationary sentencing policies, including proposals in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill currently before Parliament, the recruitment of 20,000 police officers, which is expected to increase charge volumes, and the recovery of the courts as Covid-19 restrictions subside.

Click 'read more' for the full story

The Prison Reform Trust has published a briefing on the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill as the House of Commons prepares to debate its proposals for the first time on Monday 15 March.

This Bill continues the long legacy of inflationary sentencing proposals in England and Wales begun in the 1990s. Far from being the simplification of sentencing claimed, the Bill adds to the piecemeal and confusing history of sentencing legislation of which the government claims to be so critical.

Click here to download a copy of the briefing.

Commenting on the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill introduced to Parliament today, Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

"Yet again we face the depressing spectacle of a government using sentencing legislation to play politics. Sentences for serious crime have been getting much longer for two decades now, turning our prisons into places of despair. But there is not a shred of evidence to show that this runaway inflation in punishment reduces crime.

"Hard cases make bad law, and this confused bill repeats the mistakes of so much other politically inspired legislation with calamitous results. It will blight the lives of people living and working in prisons long after the temporary electoral considerations which inspired it have been forgotten."

The prison service has "regressed" in its efforts to tackle racial inequality, a leading expert on equality and diversity in the criminal justice system has warned.

Writing in the latest edition of the Prison Reform Trust's Bromley Briefing Prison Factfile, Beverley Thompson OBE, a former senior civil servant and Race Equality Advisor (2004 - 2009) at HM Prison Service, says that "many in the prison service have either lost commitment and direction from their leadership or their organisational expertise and energy is depleted-seeking comfort instead from the dangerous mantra that 'race has been done'."

Click 'read more' for the full story

The government did not seek responses to its white paper, A Smarter Approach to Sentencing, published in September 2020. But we understand that a bill implementing some of its proposals may well be tabled early in 2021.

In response we have prepared an analysis of those elements of the paper in which PRT has significant knowledge and interest. We hope this will assist others who share both our concerns and our hopes for different elements of the white paper's approach, and inform parliamentary scrutiny of any bill that results from it.

While there is plenty in the white paper to welcome, much of it repeats the very worst errors of other governments over the last two decades in relation to sentencing. As the analysis points out, the incoherence and cruelty of proposals concerning those convicted of serious offences cannot be offset or excused by the more considered measures aimed at those convicted of less serious crime.

Given the challenges the country faces, it seems extraordinary that a bill to implement such an unevidenced and confused White Paper should command any priority in the new year. But if it does, parliament must subject it to the detailed scrutiny and challenge it plainly needs and which the absence of consultation in its preparation has prevented.

Click here to download a copy of the briefing.

New research by the Prison Reform Trust, published today (3 December), reveals the mental anguish faced by the growing number of people serving sentences of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPPs) recalled to prison for breach of their licence conditions - a population which has nearly tripled in the past five years.

One recalled IPP prisoner interviewed for the report despaired of having "no life, no freedom, no future" under the discredited sentence, which was abolished in 2012.

Click 'read more' for the full story

Commenting on the publication of today's (16 September) Sentencing White Paper by the Ministry of Justice, Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust said:

"This tired set of proposals reheats the failed policies of so many previous governments. Sentencing has been getting tougher for three decades, with no impact on either crime or public confidence. All it guarantees is an overcrowded prison system that makes it harder for the people it holds to build a crime free future.

"Talking tough is a good way to distract attention from a criminal justice system in collapse, failing both victims and offenders. People wait months, even years, for cases to be heard, then at the end of a jail term prisoners leave prison with nowhere to live. There's nothing smart about rehashing punitive rhetoric and hoping for a different outcome. It's a missed opportunity."

Peter has written a more detailed response to the white paper for iNews which you can read by clicking here.

The reintroduction today of the Domestic Abuse Bill presents an opportunity to strengthen legal protection for those whose offending is driven by their experience of domestic abuse. This would address a gap in legal protection for survivors, strengthen recognition of the links between victimisation and offending and deter inappropriate prosecutions.

Commenting, Katy Swaine Williams, Senior Programme Manager at the Prison Reform Trust said:

"The majority of women in prison are survivors of domestic abuse and many have been driven to offend as a direct result of that abuse. This landmark Bill presents an opportunity to protect survivors of abuse from prosecution where they have been driven to offend. With support from legal and domestic abuse experts, including the Victims' Commissioner, the Domestic Abuse Commissioner and the Criminal Bar Association, we will be making the case for this essential legal protection to be added to the Bill."

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Responding to the proposed introduction of emergency legislation, Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust said:

"Public concern over apparently random attacks carried out by people who have served time in prison for terrorist offences is completely understandable-as is the government's desire to respond. But we saw with the hurried implementation of an election promise to increase prison time for people convicted of certain sexual and violent offences, that parliamentary scrutiny, at least in the Commons, was negligible. A government with a big majority has a special duty to proceed with caution.

"Terrorism has always posed a very particular set of challenges for criminal justice systems. There are examples from history both in this country and overseas where poorly thought through or disproportionate reactions are likely to have made things worse rather than better in the long run. Unfair treatment or disproportionate punishment are both effective recruiting sergeants.

"So politicians should be very wary of creating expectations that no civilised system of justice can deliver. Risk cannot be completely eliminated and our powers of prediction are always imperfect. Prison has its place but it cannot become a means to protect indefinitely."

Planned government changes to sentencing will add to pressures on our overcrowded and overstretched prisons, without reducing crime or improving public confidence, a new Prison Reform Trust report warns.

The latest edition of the Bromley Briefing Prison Factfile reveals that, contrary to the impression given in much recent political debate and media coverage, England and Wales have become much tougher in their approach to punishing serious crime over the past few decades, on a scale which exceeds comparable countries or historical precedent.

Writing in the report in a specially commissioned section on life sentences, Professor Ben Crewe and Dr Susie Hulley, from the University of Cambridge, and Dr Serena Wright, from Royal Holloway, University of London, reveal a dramatic increase in the number of people serving sentences that were until recently considered wholly exceptional in their severity.

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Measures which seek to increase the automatic release point from halfway to the two-thirds point for adults convicted of certain offences should be paused to allow proper public scrutiny according to a new analysis of the government's Impact Assessment published by the Prison Reform Trust today.

The briefing, published on the same day that The Release of Prisoners (Alteration of Relevant Proportion of Sentence) Order 2019 is due to be debated in the House of Lords, will profoundly change the sentencing framework for serious offences, but has been subject to almost no meaningful scrutiny.

Government forecasts reveal that an additional 2,000 prison places will be needed, with a one-off capital cost of £440m and a permanent recurring annual cost of £70m at today's prices-with no evidence that the measures will reduce better protect the public; provide greater public confidence; or improve understanding of increasingly complicated sentencing legislation.

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The Prison Reform Trust, along with 15 other criminal justice organisations, has co-signed a letter to the leaders of the Brexit Party, Conservative Party, Democratic Unionist Party, Green Party, Labour Party, Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, and Scottish National Party.

The letter, calls on all party leaders to temper their language in regard to law and order so that sensitive issues of intense public concern are not exploited but are used to contribute to a reasoned and constructive public debate.

You can read a copy of the full letter by clicking 'read more'
Photo credit: Andy Aitchison
The families of people serving Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP) sentences are not getting enough help to deal with the painful burden of supporting their relative through their sentence, a joint report by the Prison Reform Trust and Southampton University reveals.

The IPP was abolished in 2012, but there are still 2,223 people in prison serving the sentence, nine in 10 of whom are passed their tariff expiry date. A further 1,206 people are in prison having been recalled while serving an IPP sentence in the community. The latest Ministry of Justice statistics show that the recall rate now exceeds the rate of release for people serving IPPs.

A Helping Hand: Supporting Families in the Resettlement of People Serving IPPs, found that the pains and barriers faced by the families of people serving IPP sentences have not sufficiently been addressed by criminal justice agencies.

One family member, quoted in the report said "As a family it has destroyed us, and we need all the support we can get."

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While articles declare our prisons have gone 'soft', the truth is that sentencing is much, much tougher than it used to be. We have a higher proportion of life sentenced prisoners than any other country in Europe, including Russia and Turkey.

You may be thinking, 'but why is that a bad thing. Surely harsher sentences deter would-be criminals?' Life would be a whole lot simpler if that were true, but there isn't a scrap of evidence so suggest it is. There's simply no link between the severity of sentencing in different countries and their crime rate.

Writing for The Metro, Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust, examines the recent announcements on criminal justice made in the Queen's Speech.

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Commenting on today's (1 October) announcement by Robert Buckland that he will legislate to increase the custodial period served for some sentences, Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust said:

"This is no way to make sentencing policy. There has been no review worthy of the name. In cases where the risk to the public is high, judges already have the power to do everything the Lord Chancellor says he wants. And sentencing for serious crime has already become dramatically more severe under every government this century. Yet despite all of that, the research evidence is that the public thinks sentencing is softer than it really is.

"But telling the truth about what's actually happened on sentencing, and leaving judges free to consider the facts of the individual case, doesn't win votes. This is the worst sort of politics-one day in the limelight paid for by decades of injustice to come."
Photo credit: Andy Aitchison
Following the Prime Minister's announcements about prisons in mid-August, we wrote three letters seeking clarification, to Permanent Secretary Richard Heaton, to the Secretary of State, Robert Buckland and to the CEO of HMPPS, Jo Farrar. To their collective credit, they have replied only three weeks later, and with some detail.

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Commenting on today's (3 July 2019) publication of new definitive guidelines for arson and criminal damage offences by the Sentencing Council, Mark Day, head of policy and communications at the Prison Reform Trust said:

"A significant proportion of people who commit arson have a mental health need, learning disability or autism. This guideline highlights the importance of courts obtaining a proper assessment of any underlying mental health condition or disorder before deciding the degree to which someone can be held responsible for what happened, and sets out a clear process for doing so, including full engagement with liaison and diversion services. This should lead to the fairer and more appropriate treatment of vulnerable defendants in our courts."

Click here to read our submission to the Sentencing Council's consultation on the draft guidelines.
Photo credit: Andy Aitchison
There were more than 140,000 admissions into prison in England and Wales in 2017-the highest number in western Europe, according to a new report published today (24 June 2019) by the Prison Reform Trust.

The report Prison: the facts, reveals that, despite the number falling in recent years, England and Wales still have over 40,000 more admissions to prison than Germany, the second-highest-which has a significantly larger national population.

The rate of prison admissions, which accounts for the effects of differences in national populations, shows that England and Wales have a rate approximately three times that of Italy and Spain, and almost twice as high as Germany, with 238 prison admissions for every 100,000 people.

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Photo credit: Andy Aitchison

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Commenting on the publication of today's (25 November) prison population projections by the Ministry of Justice, Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust said: "The latest projection for the prison population will be portrayed by ministers as a policy success, with more criminals brought to justice.