Against the trend

The structured sentencing framework mooted in a recent consultation paper would be unworkable without “wholesale and undesirable changes to the criminal law”, says JUSTICE. The human rights group says a structured sentencing framework would produce injustice, prevent optimum sentencing outcomes and could even result in an increase in rates of imprisonment: “These proposals go entirely against the prevailing trend of government criminal justice policy in recent years in relation to violent and sexual offences: that is, an emphasis on the individualised risk posed by the individual offender towards a member or members of the public.” JUSTICE says prison overcrowding is largely due to the effect of government policy rather than a consequence of unpredictability in sentencing.