David Lammy has today appointed two new members of the Sentencing Council: “The Lord Chancellor has approved the appointments, for three years from 2 March 2026, of Jessica Jacobson and Rokaiya Khan as members with expertise in academic research and the rehabilitation of offenders respectively.” The same sentencing council that attempted to hand more lenient sentences to people depending on their ethnicity and gender last year…
Jessica Jacobson, currently Professor of Criminal Justice at Birkbeck, University of London. In an interview with a criminal law blog last year she claimed the UK ‘slavishly’ follows demands for harsh sentences and that that the media is to blame for encouraging imprisonment:
“Undertaking nuanced, sophisticated analysis and research of public opinion would mean that you are not only looking at the kind of top-of-the-head responses to questions about sentencing, but really looking at what the public would feel once confronted with a more detailed picture and understanding of what an offence and sentencing might involve. That kind of information should inform sentencing policy, rather than, as I said, slavishly following what are assumed to be public demands only for more severe sentences.
A large part of this requires encouraging more responsible, less sensationalist media reporting of crime. Often, it is what the media says about crime and about public demands that influences politicians.”
Jacobson has written numerous times for the Prison Reform Trust which campaigns to reduce imprisonment. She added in the interview: “I do not think the judiciary has a core role in bolstering public support for the criminal justice system… One would hope that that role, when performed in an effective and humane manner, will lend greater trust in and support for the criminal justice system. That said, building trust is not the primary focus of the work of the judiciary.” Provides an insight into her priorities there…
Rokaiya Khan is Chief Executive of charity Together Women and is a longtime campaigner against imprisonment for women. She launched an effort to abolish sentences of fewer than six months: “These short sentences achieve absolutely nothing, instead they cause a great deal of destruction for the women and their families.” She claims that women’s centres should be “the default option” as opposed to custody and women with dependents should not be given prison sentences. Expect more easy justice campaigning from the Sentencing Council at a time when petty crime is at all-time highs…
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