Judges have been told to consider the background of ethnic minority offenders before passing sentence in a move Robert Jenrick has slammed as “two-tier justice” with an “anti-white and anti-Christian bias”. The Telegraph has the story.
Magistrates and judges have been told in new guidance from the Sentencing Council that they should “normally consider” ordering a pre-sentence report on an offender if they came from “an ethnic minority, cultural minority, and/or faith minority community”.
But there are no requirements for similar reports on offenders of any other ethnicity.
Pre-sentence reports are drawn up by the probation service to provide courts with information that could mitigate against jailing an offender in favour of suspending their sentence or handing them a community punishment.
Robert Jenrick, the Shadow Justice Secretary, said the guidance was “completely outrageous” and enshrined a “double standard, two-tier approach to sentencing”.
“Under Two-Tier Keir our justice system is set to have an anti-white and anti-Christian bias,” he said.
Shabana Mahmood, the Justice Secretary, wrote to the Sentencing Council urging it to reverse its changes to the guidance and registering her “displeasure”.
“Today’s updated guidelines do not represent my views or the views of this Government,” she said. “As someone who is from an ethnic minority background myself, I do not stand for any differential treatment before the law, for anyone of any kind. There will never be a two-tier sentencing approach under my watch.”
Alongside ethnic background, the guidance says judges and magistrates should consider pre-sentence reports necessary if the offender was a woman, aged 18 to 25, at risk of their first jail sentence or a prison term of two years or less, pregnant or post-natal or the sole or primary carer for a dependent relative.
Other factors included an offender disclosing that they were transgender, had an addiction to drugs or alcohol, a chronic health condition or were victims of domestic abuse, modern slavery or grooming.
The Sentencing Council said that these factors are not an exhaustive list and a pre-sentence report can still be necessary if an individual does not fall into one of these cohorts.
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