The Sentencing Council has rejected the Justice Secretary’s demand to scrap new guidelines at the centre of a ‘two-tier’ row.
In a letter to Shabana Mahmood, the chairman of the Sentencing Council told the Cabinet minister he had refused her request to alter the guidance.
She had urged the Sentencing Council to act after its publication of new principles earlier this month sparked claims of ‘two-tier sentencing’.
Poised to come into force next week, the fresh guidelines tell judges to consider a defendant’s ethnicity when deciding whether to send them to prison.
They state a pre-sentence report would usually be necessary for someone of an ethnic, cultural or faith minority.
This would also be the case if an offender is aged 18 to 25, an addict, a woman, pregnant, transgender, or with a mental health illness.
Pre-sentence reports often set out reasons why a jail sentence would be detrimental for an offender.
Ms Mahmood criticised the guidelines following their publication and told the Sentencing Council to reverse their changes.
She previously insisted ‘there will never be a two-tier sentencing approach under my watch’.
Tory shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said she had now been left ‘humiliated’ by the Sentencing Council’s decision to reject her request.
The Sentencing Council has rejected Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s demand to scrap new guidelines at the centre of a ‘two-tier’ row
In a letter to Ms Mahmood, the chairman of the Sentencing Council told the Cabinet minister he had refused her request to alter the guidance
Tory shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said Ms Mahmood had been left ‘humiliated’ by the Sentencing Council’s decision to reject her request
In his letter to Ms Mahmood, Lord Justice William Davis said the Sentencing Council would instead clarify language around the relevant part of the guidelines.
The Sentencing Council’s chairman wrote: ‘The Council concluded that the guideline did not require revision.
‘The Council decided that some clarification of the language of the relevant part of the guideline should be included in the hope that this would correct the widespread misunderstanding which has emerged in the last few weeks.
‘It also was determined that an explanatory statement in relation to this clarification should be published on the Council website.’
He added: ‘The Council respectfully disagreed with the proposition that the list of cohorts in the guideline represented an expression of policy.
‘In providing a list of cohorts, the Council was and is only concerned with judges and magistrates being provided with as much information as possible.’
The chairman said the Council agreed any systemic issue relating to ethnic groups is a matter for policy, adding: ‘Any judge or magistrate required to sentence an offender must do all that they can to avoid a difference in outcome based on ethnicity.
‘The judge will be better equipped to do that if they have as much information as possible about the offender.
‘The cohort of ethnic, cultural and faith minority groups may be a cohort about which judges and magistrates are less well informed.’
Ms Mahmood repeated her threat to change the law, if necessary, after the ‘disappointing’ response from the Sentencing Council.
The Justice Secretary said: ‘I have been clear in my view that these guidelines represent differential treatment, under which someone’s outcomes may be influenced by their race, culture or religion.
‘This is unacceptable, and I formally set out my objections to this in a letter to the Sentencing Council last week.
‘I am extremely disappointed by the council’s response. All options are on the table and I will legislate if necessary.’
Poised to come into force from next week, the fresh guidelines state a pre-sentence report would usually be necessary for someone of an ethnic, cultural or faith minority
Mr Jenrick said: ‘Shabana Mahmood has been humiliated by the Sentencing Council. In three days time we will have two-tier sentencing because of her and Two-Tier Keir.
‘It is shameful they sat on their hands and chose not to legislate to prevent two-tier justice.’
The former Conservative leadership contender dismissed Ms Mahmood’s threat to legislate now as ‘too little too late’.
‘From Tuesday the Justice Secretary will preside over a sentencing system she conceded is two-tier because of her sheer incompetence,’ he added.
Earlier this month, Mr Jenrick was left furious after Labour had blocked his proposed legislation to stop the new guidelines.