Sentencing chief DEFENDS ‘two-tier’ justice plan saying critics are wrong to say minorities will get preferential treatment and threatening ministers with legal action_Nhy
The head of the Sentencing Council today lashed out at critics of planned changes to guidance to courts that critics claim will create a ‘two tier’ system.
Lord Justice William Davis said that any suggestion to guidelines for judges would give preferential treatment to minority groups was ‘completely wrong’ after a backlash by Labour ministers and right-wing politicians.
He also warned Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood that the government could have a legal fight if it uses the row to reduce the body’s independence.
The new guidelines for judges and magistrates to follow when considering whether to jail people say they should consider the background of members of ethnic and religious minorities.
Labour has said that it will seek to block the changes, due to come into effect next month, which also argues judges and magistrates should look more closely into the background of criminals who are female, pregnant, or aged 18-25.
In a letter to Mrs Mahmood today, Lord Justice Davis said that there was ‘good evidence’ of a disparity in sentence outcomes between white offenders and offenders of an ethnic minority in relation to some offence types.
He also said that a representative of Mrs Mahmood was told about the change on March 3, before it was published, and raised no objections.
‘The council’s view is that providing a sentencer with as much information as possible about the offender is one means by which such disparity might be addressed,’ he said.
‘I have seen it suggested that the guideline instructs sentencers to impose a more lenient sentence on those from ethnic minorities than white offenders. Plainly that suggestion is completely wrong.’
Lord Justice William Davis said that any suggestion to guidelines for judges would give preferential treatment to minority groups was ‘completely wrong’.
He also warned Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood that the government could have a legal fight if it uses the row to reduce the body’s independence.
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
A 2017 review of the justice system by Tottenham MP David Lammy, now the Foreign Secretary, was used by the Sentencing Council when it drew up new guidelines for courts to follow when considering whether to jail people.
Mr Lammy said that changes were needed to a system that gave longer prison sentences to minority criminals than white ones for crimes including drug dealing.
He said that the sentences passed by courts needed more scrutiny, and judges ‘must also be equipped with the information they need’ to pass fair sentences on people from more deprived backgrounds than their own.
Mrs Mahmood has threatened to overrule the Sentencing Council by changing the law, saying the change should be reconsidered.
In a letter to the independent body, the Lord Chancellor said she ‘must make clear my displeasure’ at the changes, adding: ‘I do not stand for differential treatment before the law like this.’
She added: ‘A pre-sentence report can be instrumental in assisting courts in the determination of their sentence.
‘But the access to one should not be determined by an offender’s ethnicity, culture or religion.’
Ms Mahmood also said she was considering whether policy decisions such as this should be made by the Sentencing Council and what role MPs should play.
‘For that reason, I will be reviewing the role and powers of the Sentencing Council alongside the work of the Independent Sentencing Review,’ she said.
