Fury at softer sentences advice for the ‘deprived’

GUIDANCE suggesting that ‘deprived’ criminals could be given more lenient sentences has been greeted with fury by senior politicians and police leaders.

Factors including low educational attainment, poverty and past experience of discrimination should be considered as part of mitigation, according to the Sentencing Council.

Judges and magistrates have been told they should consider 12 ‘disadvantage’ factors before handing down a sentence, including negative experiences of authority, family members’ offending, drug and alcohol misuse, and negative influences from peers. The guidelines were issued this week despite warnings from the Justice Secretary alex Chalk, who said the ‘patronising’ ruling could lead to these factors becoming excuses to commit crimes.

Retired senior police officer Norman Brennan, who served in london for 31 years, told the Mail it was unfair to give certain sections of society more leeway than others. ‘are we going to get to the stage where we are only sending murderers to prison?’ he asked.

‘The reasons we send people to prison is to punish the offender, to deter others, to protect the public and to rehabilitate the criminal.

‘ When judges keep making excuses as to why they are not sending someone to prison who deserves to be there, then what message does that send? Many of us had a tough upbringing but did not turn to crime.’ Shadow business spokesman Jonathan Reynolds said justice should be fair and consistent for everyone.

He told GB News: ‘there are a whole range of things a judge would take into discretion when they are handing down a sentence, but i wouldn’t like to give the impression there should be a different judicial regime for people across the country.’ the Sentencing Council admitted judges and magistrates they consulted had been ‘predominantly negative or neutral’ over the new guidelines.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: ‘Sentencing decisions are made by independent judges who already take into account the circumstances of each case in line with guidelines set out by the Sentencing Council.’