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Lord Clarke of Nottingham (Con)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 19 March 2025

Debate

Sentencing Council Guidelines

Contribution

My Lords, are the Minister and the Lord Chancellor having discussions on a more sensible subject, on which I know he has some views: reducing the amazingly high level of incarceration in this country, which is the major cause of the state of our prisons? The average sentence for many offences has pretty well doubled since I was Home Secretary and has increased very substantially since I was Justice Secretary more recently. There is no evidence that incarceration levels have any effect on the level of offending. As the Sentencing Council in the end has the last word on the guidance to our independent judiciary, will this subject be taken up so that the Lord Chancellor and the Minister can share their views with the Sentencing Council and see whether it will help in the efforts to get down to more sensible levels of incarceration for the most serious offences?

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