L

Lord Mackinlay of Richborough (Con)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 2 June 2025

Debate

Independent Sentencing Review

Contribution

My Lords, I sat as a magistrate for some 10 years and remain on the supplemental list. I have to say that it is a grave mistake to take away the ability, as a norm, to give out small and shorter sentences, for the simple reason that we magistrates did so to keep bad people away from good people. It is as simple as that. Is the problem not more what is happening within our prison estate? People who may be drug-free are going into the prison estate and getting a drug habit while there. That in itself is a cause for not just some concern but grave concern, and I am not surprised that they then come out to a life of criminality thereafter. Surely, that has to be the primary concern of the Minister. In so saying, I pay tribute to his family’s support for those on the prison estate, which has been truly exceptional over many years.

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