Former top judges tell government to reverse sentence inflation

Five of the former most senior judges have intervened in the debate over the prison population crisis to urge the government to reverse the trend of locking people up for longer – declaring that 'radical solutions' are required to tackle the prison population crisis.

Today’s report from the Howard League for Penal Reform, Sentence Inflation: a judicial critique, is signed by former lords chief justice Lord Woolf, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd and Lord Burnett of Maldon, and former Queen’s Bench Division president Sir Brian Leveson. It comes as the government prepares to release 5,500 prisoners earlier than planned.

The judges said custodial sentence lengths have doubled in over the half-century they were involved in the law.

‘There is nothing that justifies this doubling of sentence lengths. Government legislation relating to sentencing has consistently provided that imprisonment should only be imposed if there is no suitable alternative punishment, and that imprisonment should be for the minimum period commensurate with the crime. The law dictates this,' they said.

‘The problem is that there is no objective measure for deciding what term of imprisonment is commensurate with a particular offence. Nor have governments always been content to leave it to the judges to decide the appropriate sentence.’

Legislative changes such as statutory starting points for the minimum terms for murder and increasing the statutory maximum for death by dangerous driving have driven sentence inflation, they said. ‘Indeed, the extent of legislative change has not only made the judge’s job much more difficult but represents worrying influences on sentencing law and policy. Many of the changes have been driven by single-issue campaigns which attract emotive media attention. This type of legislation interferes with good sentencing practice.'

The judges welcomed the government’s decision to urgently review sentencing legislation and practice, but called for ‘an honest conversation about what custodial sentences can and cannot achieve' and 'a return to more modest proportionate sentences across the board’.

Tackling the crisis requires 'radical solutions', they said. Suggestions include removing from prison those who are elderly, dying or suffering dementia.

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