Mahmood Accepts All-But-One of Gauke’s Softer Sentencing Recommendations – Guido Fawkes

Mahmood Accepts All-But-One of Gauke’s Softer Sentencing Recommendations

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Shabana Mahmood is in the Commons to announce which bits of Gauke’s Sentencing Review the government will accept.  It’s almost the entire lot…

Only one substantial recommendation hasn’t been taken up – to reduce the sentence lengths for the most serious offenders from two thirds to a half. The rest all go in:

• Moving to a three-part sentence, called the “earned progression model.“ Accepted…
• Gauke also suggests those serving Extended Determinate Sentences should also earn an earlier release. Not accepted…
• 12-month sentences to be only handed out in “exceptional” circumstances decided by judges. Accepted…
• Extension of suspended sentences from 2 to 3 years. Accepted…
• Mahmood says she will “work with local authorities, to determine how unpaid work teams could give back to their communities, be that filling potholes or cleaning rubbish.“
• More intense supervision courts accepted. Mahmood says the supervision from this ensures “the prospect of prison hangs over [criminals], like the sword of Damocles”…
• Recommendations on female offenders to reduce sentence numbers. Accepted…

Mahmood also said trials on the voluntary chemical castration of sex offenders will be expanded and she will “exploring whether mandating the approach is possible.” No policy yet…

Jenrick responded by saying the changes are “a recipe for a crime wave… discounts so big they’d make Aldi and Lidl blush.” He added that the Lady Chief Justice has offered extra court sitting days to free up prison spaces and that Texas – Mahmood’s stated model for changes – has a five-times higher incarceration rate than the UK and built 75,000 extra cells between 1993 and 1996. Putting criminals in prison should be the focus of the justice system…