Labour is being urged to change the law amid suggestions ministers are powerless to overrule new guidance telling judges to give minorities special treatment in the courts.
Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, is facing calls to rush through legislation to block new principles published by the Sentencing Council.
The updated guidance has sparked claims of ‘two-tier sentencing’ after it told judges to consider a defendant’s ethnicity when deciding whether to send them to prison.
Poised to come into force from April, the fresh guidelines state a pre-sentence report would usually be necessary for someone of an ethnic, cultural or faith minority.
This would also be the case if an offender is aged 18 to 25, an addict, a woman, pregnant, transgender, or with a mental health illness.
Pre-sentence reports often set out reasons why a jail sentence would be detrimental for an offender.
Ms Mahmood last night blasted the Sentencing Council’s updated guidelines, saying: ‘There will never be a two-tier sentencing approach under my watch.’
She vowed to write to the independent body to recommend they reverse the changes to their guidance.
But, despite her anger, a Government source told the BBC that Ms Mahmood cannot order the Sentencing Council to abandon their changes.
Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, is facing calls to rush through legislation to block new principles published by the Sentencing Council
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch told the Justice Secretary to alter the law in order to block the new guidelines and offered her party’s support should she do so
Poised to come into force from April, the fresh guidelines state a pre-sentence report would usually be necessary for someone of an ethnic, cultural or faith minority
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch this morning told the Justice Secretary to alter the law in order to block the new guidelines and offered her party’s support should she do so.
She said: ‘If the Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood doesn’t want a two-tier criminal justice system she should change the law and the Conservatives will back her.
‘Ministers should decide not quangos. Labour need to grip this.’
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, hit out at the Sentencing Council’s new guidance as ‘social engineering’ and warned the changes are ‘dangerous’.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘If you’re asking me, should we try to use things like pre-sentencing reports to socially engineer our criminal justice system so there is equality of outcome rather than equality of treatment?
‘No, I think that’s wrong. And I think that’s a dangerous approach.’
In another interview with Times Radio, Mr Jenrick claimed that ‘Christian and straight white men’ will be treated differently to others under the guidelines.
He said that rule of law means people do not get treated differently by the courts, adding: ‘What worries me about these sentencing guidelines that were published yesterday… is that they do precisely that.
‘They say that you are less likely to get a custodial sentence because your case would be handled through a pre-sentencing report commissioned by a judge, if you’re a woman, if you’re trans, if you’re neurodiverse, if you’re an ethnic minority, if you’re from a minority faith group, which presumably means anyone who isn’t Christian.
‘Essentially Christian and straight white men, amongst other groups, will be treated differently to the rest of society.
‘And I think that’s wrong. I think that is an example of two-tier justice, and it will corrode public trust and confidence in the criminal justice system which clearly I don’t want to see.’
Ms Mahmood last night blasted the Sentencing Council’s updated guidelines, saying: ‘There will never be a two-tier sentencing approach under my watch’
In a statement last night, Ms Mahmood said: ‘The Sentencing Council is entirely independent.
‘Today’s updated guidelines do not represent my views or the views of this Government.
‘I will be writing to the Sentencing Council to register my displeasure and to recommend reversing this change to guidance.
‘As someone who is from an ethnic minority background myself, I do not stand for any differential treatment before the law, for anyone of any kind.
‘There will never be a two-tier sentencing approach under my watch.’
The Sentencing Council said a greater emphasis has now been placed on the ‘critical role’ of pre-sentence reports, with more detail on when judges should request for the information to be compiled ahead of sentencing decisions.
This includes details about the circumstances of the crime and the offender.
Lord Justice William Davis, chairman of the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, said one of the reasons for the updated guidance was to make sure courts have the ‘most comprehensive information available’ to hand out an appropriate sentence.
On pre-sentence reports, he added: ‘The reasons for including groups vary but include evidence of disparities in sentencing outcomes, disadvantages faced within the criminal justice system and complexities in circumstances of individual offenders that can only be understood through an assessment.
‘Pre-sentence reports provide the court with information about the offender; they are not an indication of sentence.
‘Sentences are decided by the independent judiciary, following sentencing guidelines and taking into account all the circumstances of the individual offence and the individual offender.’
Lord Justice Davis said a sentence properly tailored to individual circumstances of the offender had the ‘greatest likelihood’ of being effective.
He added of the updated guidelines: ‘It will ensure that the principles for imposing community and custodial sentences continue to be consistently and transparently applied by the courts and that such sentences are the most suitable and appropriate for the offender and offence before them.’
Further advice for courts to ‘avoid’ sending pregnant women or mothers of babies to prison has been welcomed by campaigners.
The guidance states: ‘For offences that carry a mandatory minimum custodial sentence, pregnancy and the postnatal period may contribute to ‘exceptional circumstances’ that could justify not imposing the statutory minimum sentence.’
Reacting to the move, Janey Starling, co-director of feminist campaign group Level Up, said the changes are a ‘huge milestone’ in the campaign to end imprisoning pregnant women and mothers.
Liz Forrester, from group No Births Behind Bars, said it finally recognises the ‘deadly impact’ of prison on babies and pregnant women.
