So in all the noise and bluster, what’s the key takeaway from the sentencing review and gov’s reforms? There’s a lot to like in the proposals — but the gov risks shooting itself in the foot through key omissions to look ‘tough on crime’ 🧵 www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/sent... - ThreadSky

cassiarowland.bsky.social • 5 days ago

So in all the noise and bluster, what’s the key takeaway from the sentencing review and gov’s reforms? There’s a lot to like in the proposals — but the gov risks shooting itself in the foot through key omissions to look ‘tough on crime’ 🧵
https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/sentencing-review-recommendations

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ilikecaketoo.bsky.social•4 days ago

Key issue is for many of these recommendations to work, there needs to be some serious funding & bolstering of current resources. Currently, they are nowhere near ready. Today in The Times:
‘No evidence’ early prison release scheme will work, expert warns
https://www.thetimes.com/article/73ff54fe-9269-4486-b810-3beb48a8e26f?shareToken=f58fbcec60df9d11f0ca69200a21b7ff

cassiarowland.bsky.social•4 days ago

Yes this is a real challenge. We talk a lot about the lack of ‘purposeful activity’ (education, rehabilitation etc) here. In the current context it could be v difficult for prisoners to prove good behaviour.
https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/publication/performance-tracker-local/england-and-wales-prisons

cassiarowland.bsky.social•4 days ago

In practice, I suspect they will introduce a presumption to release at halfway/two-thirds point https://bsky.app/profile/cassiarowland.bsky.social/post/3lpttoywckc2b

ilikecaketoo.bsky.social•4 days ago

Thank you, that’s very interesting. 🤔

johnglenn.bsky.social•5 days ago

I key point is that many of us have not thought through what we mean by justice. What do we mean by consequences and punishments? An eye for an eye leaves us stuck in the Old Testament world.

cassiarowland.bsky.social•5 days ago

Gov is making 3 big changes to sentencing: 1) earned early release for most prisoners (after 33-50% of sentence) & abolishing automatic early release, 2) shift to community sentences over prison sentences, esp for <1 year & 3) harsher, more restrictive community sentences/probation supervision.

cassiarowland.bsky.social•5 days ago

2) is a good idea, pure and simple. Short prison sentences are less effective & much more expensive than community sentences - yes, even for repeat offenders - and put a lot of pressure on prisons, especially 'reception' prisons which are the most overcrowded.

cassiarowland.bsky.social•5 days ago

Worth noting too this is a game-changer for women in prison, the large majority of whom are serving sentences under a year for non-violent offences, often having been victims themselves of more serious offences and with dependent children.

radiobeartime.com•5 days ago

This is a really important point however when I looked at the Criminal Justice system a decade ago we found that for a lot of young women prison was the only support network they had :(

Once again we’re back to the need for a massive increase in social services for this to work

cassiarowland.bsky.social•5 days ago

Picture is more nuanced for the other two though. Earned early release has strong pros & will substantially ease pressure on prisons...but ending automatic early release could reverse that. Assessing good behaviour/rehabilitation also v difficult given chaotic state of prisons currently.

giffordhead.co.uk•5 days ago

Thank you for this interesting thread. Is there going to be a way of handling challenges to how governors determine what is good behaviour without clogging up the admin court with endless JRs?

cassiarowland.bsky.social•5 days ago

Hmm I'm not sure. I suspect (though don't know) that practically, there will need to be a presumption to release most prisoners at the halfway point, and prisons/probation will have to demonstrate particularly poor behaviour or high risk to overcome that. Same at 2/3 for more serious offenders.

cassiarowland.bsky.social•5 days ago

Change 3), 'harsher' community sentences, is all about the politics rather than the evidence. The key success factor for community sentences & probation supervision is positive, fair relationships between probation staff and offenders, & offenders feeling staff really believe they can change.

cassiarowland.bsky.social•5 days ago

Tightening or adding conditions to people's sentences just for the sake of it will harm these relationships and make supervision feel unfair and unnecessarily punitive, while also risking driving record levels of people recalled to prison for breaches even higher.

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