Sentencers can take into account pressures on prison population

When a person has committed an offence which (often combined with the extent of their criminal history) puts them at risk of imprisonment, a range of factors are considered by the Judge or Magistrates deciding on their sentence. Some of these relate to aggravating or mitigating factors related to the… The issue has been in the news with a Court of Appeal judgment referring to sentencing and the impact of the current, very high prison population. ...

Understanding domestic abuse and coercive control

Domestic abuse and coercive control are serious issues in the UK, affecting people of all ages, genders, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic backgrounds. Understanding these issues is crucial for identifying and addressing them effectively. Domestic abuse refers to any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive, threatening, violent or abusive… In the first of a series of articles for Work with Offenders Anjum Mouj reviews the legislation and characterstics around coercive control behaviour ...

Most people released from prison without settled accommodation

The first part, published in November, focused on work pre-release and found that the model was not working as intended and recommended a fundamental review of current practice. In this follow-up inspection, inspectors tracked the same 100 prisoners whose cases were reviewed in prison during their resettlement journeys into the… The prisons and probation inspectorates have today (14 March 2023) published the second part of their joint thematic inspection into the Offender Management in Custody (OMIC) model. ...

New Key Performance Indicators for Youth Justice

The Ministry of Justice and Youth Justice Board have just published a set of 10 new key performance indicators (KPIs) to be used by youth offending services from the 1st of April this year. Because KPIs are used to monitor performance and senior managers are accountable for them, they tend… The data generated by the KPIs will be used both by the YJB to monitor performance of youth justice services (YJSs) and by the MoJ to identify barriers to reducing reoffending....

Deaths on remand

Today’s new edition of the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman’s Investigator newsletter provides disturbing information about the number of self-inflicted deaths by people on remand. As regular readers will know, the remand population has increased steadily since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, largely due to disruptions in the court system.… The PPO has highlighted that court dates for trials and sentencing hearings are potential triggers for self-harm and suicide....

MoJ launch ‘Rapid Deloyment Cells’ to cope with prison demand

1,000 ‘Rapid Deployment Cells’ are set to be rolled out at 18 prison sites as the MoJ looks to accommodate the rising demand for prison places. The first 48 such cells were unveiled at HMP Norwich yesterday – having been constructed and lifted into place seven months after the signing… The units can be built and rolled out at speed with a lifespan of around 15 years. ...

What's driving the decline in alcohol-related violence?

A fascinating new report from the Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS) explores recent patterns in alcohol-related violence. In England and Wales, official statistics on alcohol-related violence are drawn from the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) – an annual nationally representative household survey capturing experiences of victimisation in the… Recent declines in alcohol consumption among young people is one of a number of factors identified in new research ...

Prison population projected to soar

The latest official prison population projections published today by the Ministry of Justice and the Office for National Statistics demonstrate the uncertainties at the heart of our criminal justice system. The headline figures are confusing, to say the least: The prison population is projected to increase, with a central estimate… The projected rise is partly driven by rising police officer numbers which are expected to increase charge volumes ...

Court reform has put justice system under pressure

The programme, which has costs £1.3bn is nearing its end. However, despite increasing its budget to reduce the risk of missing deadlines, His Majesty’s Court and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) does not expect to be able to deliver the programme to its current timetable and scope. Progress Since the NAO’s last… The National Audit Office’s (NAO) latest report on the government’s court reform programme, published today, paints a mixed picture....

New research on rape convictions

New research, published today in the Criminal Law Review, provides the first detailed analysis of all charges, pleas and outcomes in rape and other sexual offences in England and Wales from 2007 through 2021. The research was carried out by Cheryl Thomas KC (hon), professor of judicial studies at University… It examines a dataset of over 5.6 million charges and all 68,863 jury verdicts by deliberation on rape charges over a 15-year period....