As part of long-term planning to ease prison overcrowding, the Government has today launched a review into sentencing. This Independent Review, led by David Gauke, will examine alternatives to custodial sentences for people who commit crimes; the review is expected to consider nudge technology, sobriety tags and home detention curfews.
The review is being launched on the same day that 1,1000 people are set to be released under the Government’s SDS40 ‘early release’ scheme, in a bid to ease overcrowding in the prison system. Findings from the review will be submitted in full to the Lord Chancellor by Spring 2025.
Responding to the Ministry of Justice announcement to launch a sentencing review, CEO of Nacro, Campbell Robb, commented:
“This is a welcome announcement. This review provides a long-overdue opportunity to reset the criminal justice system. It needs to be led by the evidence of what works, ensure it focuses on putting victims and safer communities at the heart of the system and propose the changes we need to reduce reoffending in the long-term.
“Decades of under-investment, sentence inflation and a lack of evidence-based decisions-making as to what works to reduce reoffending and protect the public, have taken our justice system to the brink of collapse. The launch of the sentencing review shows that this trajectory isn’t inevitable and there is real scope to rebuild our criminal justice system so that it is fit for purpose.”
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We operate in more than 40 prisons and provide services across England and Wales. We help 28,000 people across our services each year and run the CAS-2 service for the Government housing people coming out of prison on bail or licence. We work with people at every stage of the criminal justice system, from liaison and diversion services in police custody and courts, to resettlement into the community after prison. We use the insights from our services and the experiences of the people we support to campaign together for a criminal justice system which better serves us all. We’ve been working in this field for more than 50 years.