In the week that the Lord Chancellor releases 1,700 prisoners early to ease pressure on overcrowded prisons, NLJ author Janet Carter pleads the case for the alternative ‘lawful & immediate remedy’ of community orders
Carter, a retired barrister and Ministry of Justice legal training manager, writes: ‘Sadly, the concept of a community order at custody level is underused and misunderstood, particularly by the lay bench.
‘There is a desperate need for lawyers to tackle the practical misconceptions and illegal shortcuts with clear representations in the courtroom so that the law is properly applied.’
One major hurdle, Carter writes, is ‘the over-simplification’ of the primary legal duty to follow the sentencing guidelines. Magistrates should be reminded of the custodial threshold—that a (suspended) custodial sentence should not be imposed if a community order or fine can be justified instead. Carter urges lawyers to shout this ‘from the rooftops’.
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