Magistrates less likely to pick jail

MAGISTRATES in Cheshire jailed more than 1,000 defendants last year but offenders’ chances of being sent to prison are at their lowest level in more than a decade.

In 2017, magistrates’ courts in the Cheshire police force area jailed 1,114 people, or 3.5% of all those convicted.

This was the lowest proportion of offenders jailed since at least 2007, and lower than in England and Wales as a whole – where 3.8% of those convicted are jailed.

Among those given custodial sentences last year was an offender aged between 12 and 14, and six who were aged between 15 and 17, according to the figures published by the Ministry Of Justice.

For those jailed, the most common type of offence committed was theft.

This led to 468 people being jailed in Cheshire in 2017.

Magistrates in Cheshire were one-and-a-half times more likely to send people to prison for fraud offences – jailing 11.8% of those convicted, compared across England.

Courts in Cheshire were also more likely to jail people for violence against the person (sending 34.6% of offenders to jail compared to 24.8% across England and Wales), public order offences (31% against 23.2%), and theft offences (31.3% against 23.6%), however magistrates jailed none of the 26 people convicted of sexual offences in 2017.

Magistrates’ courts can impose prison sentences of up to six months, or up to 12 months in total for more than one offence. to 8%

Andrew Neilson, director of campaigns at the Howard League For Penal Reform, said: “When magistrates send someone to prison, they are making a choice that can have disastrous consequences.

“Alarm bells start to ring when some courts make that decision much more frequently than courts located in other parts of the country.

“Short prison sentences are a catastrophe for everyone.

“As the Government has recognised in recent ministerial announcements, the evidence shows that short bursts of imprisonment lead to more offending and more victims.

“When sentencing practices vary so significantly from region to region, it only strengthens the argument for removing from magistrates the power to sentence people to prison – and to look instead at redirecting their responsibilities to helping people to lead crime-free lives.”

A study carried out in 2007 for the Ministry Of Justice showed significant variations in local sentencing across England and Wales.

In 2006 – the year the study looked at – the proportion of offenders jailed by magistrates varied from 6% to 16%.

The range in 2017 was 1% to 9%, suggesting that local variations have persisted.

Since 1998, there have been moves to create more consistent sentencing guidelines, which led to the creation of the Sentencing Council in 2010.

Previously the guidance that was available had been based on Court Of Appeal judgements and was limited to only a small proportion of offences.