Youths from ethnic minorities could get softer sentences
YoUnG offenders from black or ethnic minority backgrounds could be given lighter punishments under new sentencing guidelines.
Judges will be told to consider the ‘discrimination and negative experiences of authority’ they may have suffered.
Courts should take into account ‘particular factors which arise in the case of black and minority ethnic children and young people’.
The guidelines appear to be the first ever instructions to courts to treat defendants differently on racial grounds.
The Sentencing Council rules are in a package of measures designed to persuade judges and magistrates to go easier on young criminals from troubled backgrounds, or who have been brought up in state care.
Critics said it was wrong to sentence criminals differently on racial grounds. one criminologist said the law should be the same for everyone.
The Sentencing Council is led by its president lord Chief Justice lord Thomas and other senior judges, and the courts are bound to follow its guide- lines when setting punishments. The new rules, which will apply for young criminals from June 1, tell the courts they must pay regard to when young offenders have ‘deprived homes, poor parental employment records, low educational attainment, and early experience of offending by other family members’.
Judges are also told to consider ‘experience of abuse and/ or neglect, negative influences from peer associates and the misuse of drugs and/or alcohol’ when sentencing.
However in a historic departure for the court system, the guidelines tell judges and mag- istrates: ‘There is also evidence to suggest that black and minority ethnic children and young people are over-represented in the youth justice system.
‘The factors contributing to this are complex. one factor is that a significant proportion of looked after children and young people are from a black and minority ethnic background.’
They go on to say: ‘a further factor may be the experience of such children and young people in terms of discrimination and negative experiences of authority. When having regard to the welfare of the child or young person to be sentenced, the particular factors which arise in the case of black and minority ethnic children and young people need to be taken into account.’
The guidelines tell courts that different treatment should apply to black or minority criminals whether or not they have been brought up in state care.
a spokesman for the Sentencing Council said yesterday: ‘The guidelines recognise that black and ethnic minority children are over-represented in the care system, and children in care are more likely to end up in the criminal justice system. Children should not be blamed for factors beyond their control.’
Sentencing Council chairman lord Justice Treacy said the guidelines were aimed at preventing reoffending.
But criminologist Dr David Green, director of the Civitas think tank, said: ‘The principle should be that the law is the same for everyone regardless of background, race or gender. This is a complete reversal of that.’
The Ministry of Justice said: ‘Sentences should always fit the seriousness of crimes. Sentencing is a matter for independent judges, who will consider all of the facts of the case before reaching a decision.’