{"id":3619,"date":"2026-01-28T13:16:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T13:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/?page_id=3619"},"modified":"2026-01-28T13:16:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T13:16:25","slug":"putting-practitioners-and-evidence-at-the-heart-of-justice-reform-the-sentencing-bill-a-start-but-not-a-solution","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/putting-practitioners-and-evidence-at-the-heart-of-justice-reform-the-sentencing-bill-a-start-but-not-a-solution\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting practitioners and evidence at the heart of justice reform The Sentencing Bill: A Start, But Not a Solution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Centre For Justice Innovation<\/em><\/p>\n

The Lord Chancellor, David Lammy MP, has arrived in his new post amidst the progression of a new Sentencing Bill (i) in the House of Commons. The Bill sets out a series of measures designed to reshape how sentencing works in England and Wales, primarily to stave off future prison population crises. As he said, without this Bill, “our prisons could run of out places entirely, leaving us with nowhere to put dangerous offenders, police without the capacity to make arrests, courts unable to hold trials and a breakdown of law and order.” At first glance, the Bill appears to mark a significant step forward. It signals an acceptance that the political consensus toward ever tougher sentencing (ii) (a consensus that has been locked in for decades) is unsustainable, with rising demand colliding with limited capacity. However, as the Centre for Justice Innovation argued in the Telegraph earlier (iii) this year, legislation alone will not insulate us from a future prison crisis. Delivery depends far less on the words written into law than on the resources, capacity and capability of our prisons and probation system.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most acute challenge lies with probation. Over the past decade, the service has been stretched to breaking point by underfunding, high workloads, and rapid turnover of staff (iv). Community justice only works if probation can credibly supervise and support those subject to them. Yet in many parts of the country, probation officers are simply too thinly spread to provide consistent oversight. If the Bill is to succeed in delivering effective community supervision that retains public confidence, probation must be equipped with the people, skills and stability to deliver. For example, one of the highest profile of the Bill\u2019s provisions, a presumption against short sentences, aims to reduce demand on prison, as well as recognise that, for many, a short prison sentence is not the remedy to pull them out of a cycle of often repeat offending.<\/p>\n

But the evidence from the implementation of a similar approach north of the border should give pause. Scotland\u2019s experience has neither significantly reduced the use of short custodial terms nor altered the overall size of the prison population (v) (indeed, they have a capacity crisis of their own). Judges and sheriffs, faced with changing offence mixes and limited community resources, have often understandably had scepticism about the efficacy of community penalties. This suggests that cultural change, judicial confidence, and investment in community justice matters just as much as statutory presumptions. In a roundtable with David Gauke, who led the Sentencing Review that this Bill seeks to turn into reality, the Centre argued that we should not rely on legislation to do the heavy lifting. Part of the reason for that is that introducing sentencing legislation is an inherently political and public act, shaped by debates about being \u201ctough\u201d or \u201csoft\u201d on crime.<\/p>\n

The Bill\u2019s provisions on \u201cincome reduction orders\u201d or the publication of offenders\u2019 names and photographs (neither of which feature in the Gauke review) reflect this reality. These measures are performative: designed to send signals to the public about punishment. While they may satisfy the political demand for toughness, they are likely to be yet more barely implementable law that will also do little to address the structural drivers of the prison population. The new Sentencing Bill should be welcomed as a necessary attempt to shift sentencing and bring demand and capacity into better alignment. It looks to strengthen community sentences and to reduce the unsustainable pressures on our prison system, within a political context in which the room for manoeuvre seems narrow. The research putting practitioners and evidence at the heart of justice reform from our colleagues at the Common Ground Justice project (vi) suggest that there is actually a much wider public appetite for nuance and trade-offs. But this Bill will not, on its own, prevent the justice system from running into a crisis again. That requires long-term investment in capacity, a credible probation service, and a justice system that is capable of delivery, not just legislation. The Bill is a start\u2014but the harder, less visible work of building capability and confidence in our justice institutions still lies ahead.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(i) UK Parliament (2024). Sentencing Bill publications – Parliamentary Bills – UK Parliament. [online] Parliament.uk. Available at: https:\/\/bills.parliament.uk\/bills\/4012\/publications<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(ii) Independent Sentencing Review (2025). INDEPENDENT SENTENCING REVIEW History and Trends in Sentencing. [online] Available at: https:\/\/assets.publishing.service.gov.uk\/media\/67c583a868a61757838d2196\/independe nt sentencing-review-part-1-report.pdf.<\/p>\n

(iii) Bowen, P. (2025). Early releases of prisoners are going to cost money, not save it. [online] The Telegraph. Available at: https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/news\/2025\/05\/20\/prisoner-earlyrelease gauke-mahmood\/.<\/p>\n

(iv) HM Inspectorate of Probation (2025). The Probation Service \u2018has too few staff, with too little experience and training, managing too many cases\u2019 \u2013 HM Inspectorate of Probation. [online] Justiceinspectorates.gov.uk. Available at: https:\/\/hmiprobation.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk\/news\/the-probation-service-has-too-few-staff with-too-little-experience-and-training-managing-too-many-cases\/.<\/p>\n

(v) HM Inspectorate of Probation (2024). A Legislative Presumption Against the Use of Short Prison Sentences \u2013 Sentencing Academy. [online] Sentencingacademy.org.uk. Available at: https:\/\/www.sentencingacademy.org.uk\/a-legislative-presumption-against-the-use-of-short prison-sentences\/#_ftn1.<\/p>\n

(vi) The Common Ground Justice Project. (2025). The Common Ground Justice Project. [online] Available at:https:\/\/www.commongroundjustice.uk\/news\/what-do-britons-want-fromjustice reform-read-our-new-report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Centre For Justice Innovation The Lord Chancellor, David Lammy MP, has arrived in his new post amidst the progression of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1700,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3619","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPutting practitioners and evidence at the heart of justice reform The Sentencing Bill: A Start, But Not a Solution - BJCJ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/putting-practitioners-and-evidence-at-the-heart-of-justice-reform-the-sentencing-bill-a-start-but-not-a-solution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Putting practitioners and evidence at the heart of justice reform The Sentencing Bill: A Start, But Not a Solution - BJCJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Centre For Justice Innovation The Lord Chancellor, David Lammy MP, has arrived in his new post amidst the progression of […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/putting-practitioners-and-evidence-at-the-heart-of-justice-reform-the-sentencing-bill-a-start-but-not-a-solution\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BJCJ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mmuperu.co.uk\\\/bjcj\\\/putting-practitioners-and-evidence-at-the-heart-of-justice-reform-the-sentencing-bill-a-start-but-not-a-solution\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mmuperu.co.uk\\\/bjcj\\\/putting-practitioners-and-evidence-at-the-heart-of-justice-reform-the-sentencing-bill-a-start-but-not-a-solution\\\/\",\"name\":\"Putting practitioners and evidence at the heart of justice reform The Sentencing Bill: A Start, But Not a Solution - BJCJ\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mmuperu.co.uk\\\/bjcj\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-28T13:16:25+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/mmuperu.co.uk\\\/bjcj\\\/putting-practitioners-and-evidence-at-the-heart-of-justice-reform-the-sentencing-bill-a-start-but-not-a-solution\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mmuperu.co.uk\\\/bjcj\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mmuperu.co.uk\\\/bjcj\\\/\",\"name\":\"BJCJ\",\"description\":\"British Journal of Community Justice\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mmuperu.co.uk\\\/bjcj\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Putting practitioners and evidence at the heart of justice reform The Sentencing Bill: A Start, But Not a Solution - BJCJ","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/putting-practitioners-and-evidence-at-the-heart-of-justice-reform-the-sentencing-bill-a-start-but-not-a-solution\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Putting practitioners and evidence at the heart of justice reform The Sentencing Bill: A Start, But Not a Solution - BJCJ","og_description":"Centre For Justice Innovation The Lord Chancellor, David Lammy MP, has arrived in his new post amidst the progression of […]","og_url":"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/putting-practitioners-and-evidence-at-the-heart-of-justice-reform-the-sentencing-bill-a-start-but-not-a-solution\/","og_site_name":"BJCJ","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/putting-practitioners-and-evidence-at-the-heart-of-justice-reform-the-sentencing-bill-a-start-but-not-a-solution\/","url":"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/putting-practitioners-and-evidence-at-the-heart-of-justice-reform-the-sentencing-bill-a-start-but-not-a-solution\/","name":"Putting practitioners and evidence at the heart of justice reform The Sentencing Bill: A Start, But Not a Solution - BJCJ","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-01-28T13:16:25+00:00","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/putting-practitioners-and-evidence-at-the-heart-of-justice-reform-the-sentencing-bill-a-start-but-not-a-solution\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/","name":"BJCJ","description":"British Journal of Community Justice","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1700"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3619"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3620,"href":"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3619\/revisions\/3620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmuperu.co.uk\/bjcj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}