A Smarter Approach to Sentencing

A Smarter Approach to Sentencing Date: October 18, 2023 Presented by: Nicky Padfield (Professor of Criminal and Penal Justice, University of Cambridge) Any chance of a whole system review? A Royal Commission? Let's look at sentencing in a wider context: - Who gets charged ('out of court disposals')? - Sentencing not as a moment, but as an on-going process.... - Think too about confiscation and the Law Commission's current consultation.... - Recall? Post-sentence? Deeply Punitive (And Expensive, Often Inappropriate And Unduly Complex)  Longer tariffs for many discretionary life sentences (2/3rds determinate equivalent, not ½) - why?  Increasing the time sex offenders serving the weirdly-named 'SOPC' (sentence for offenders of particular concern) must spend in prison why?  Abolishing automatic halfway release for most sex and violent offenders who get 4-7 years (already changed for over 7-year sentences simply by S.I.: Release of Prisoners (Alteration of Relevant Proportion of Sentence) Order 2020-why?  New power to prevent automatic early release for offenders who become a terrorist risk during non-terrorist sentence - why? Whole life orders extended, including for 18–20-year-olds - why? unlawful as well as morally wrong? See R (Smith) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2005] UKHL 51 and various ECtHR cases)  Increased starting points for murders committed by children - OH NO!  Tougher rules on minimum terms for repeat burglars and possessing a knife etc. why?  Much more 'tagging' including 'House Detention Orders' (!) and 'location monitoring'. Some Probably Positive (Not New Ideas, And All Require Significant Funding And Plenty Of 'Piloting')  Community sentence treatment requirements  Some unpaid work hours served in a work-related educational or training capacity  Criminal records reform: reducing the amount of time some young people are required to disclose criminal records to prospective employers  Better quality Pre-sentence Reports (PSRs)  'Encourage' more deferred sentencing  Reduce use of remand for young offender Problem solving courts. Is It Negative or Positive? Some could be positive or negative: - Out-of-court disposals: reduce the options to two: community resolutions and conditional cautions - but why? - 'Empowering' probation: beware the dangers of unaccountable powers! What weird about-turns in recent years.... A Root And Branch Review Of The Parole System It was published yesterday. But it is not root and branch: it is a public consultation on making some parole hearings open to victims of crime and the wider public "The question of whether to allow public hearings is only one aspect of the root and branch review which will look at four broad areas: i) an evaluation of the parole reforms to date, ii) the constitution and status of the Parole Board, iii) improving public understanding and confidence in the parole system, and iv) measures to improve openness and transparency" (para 12). Is that root and branch?? My questions: What is parole for? Should we have so many indeterminate sentences? What proportion of their sentence should people serve? Should people on fixed sentences serve a fixed proportion? What are suitable license conditions and how should they be monitored/enforced/supported? Re-Thinking The Context  Many of our prisons are a real disgrace, as is the size of the prison population.  The growing injustice of social/economic inequality.  What are prisons for? (Let's re-think the justifications)  Rethinking what happens on release: if you want to reduce re-offending, improve support for ex-offenders on release...... Re-inventing probation? How do we effect change? BETTER change.