Olivia Dwan and April O’Neill of BCL Solicitors provide an analysis of the recently announced Independent Sentencing Review.
The prison system has been on the brink of collapse for years. It is buckling under a population which has doubled in the past 30 years. In the last 14 of those years, only 500 new places were created, significantly less than the 14,000 promised under the Conservative government.
The new Labour government has already implemented an Early Release Scheme (‘the scheme’) to free up 5,500 places. Those sentenced to more than 4 years in custody, for violent, sexual or domestic violence offences were not eligible. Between September and October 2024, 2,800 people were released under the scheme.
Whilst this may be a straightforward strategy for the short-term, thought must be given to how those released early will be re-integrated into the community, whether the strain on prison infrastructure will simply be transferred to the probation service or whether those released on licence will be sufficiently supported.
This emergency measure has been followed up by an assurance from the government that “never again” will there be “more prisoners than prison places”. Earlier this month, the government announced an Independent Sentencing Review, tasked with seeking evidence across a number of sentencing themes and making recommendations.
What are the key aspects the Review will look at?
The three “core principles” of the review are to:
1. Make sure serious offenders are punished with spaces always available, and to protect the public
2. Look at what more can be done to encourage offenders to turn their backs on a life of crime and keep the public safe
3. Explore tougher punishments outside of prison to make sure sentences cut crime whilst making the best use of taxpayers money
This article was first written for and published by LexisNexis on 4 December 2024, to read the full article click here (£).
Olivia Dwan
Associate
April O’Neill
Legal Assistant
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