The Guardian view on sentencing reform: a landmark chance for change | Editorial

David Gauke’s review gives penal policy in England and Wales a once-in-a-generation opportunity to move in more constructive directionThe independent sentencing review for England and Wales under David Gauke is a landmark response to both an immediate crisis in the prisons and to an endemic criminal justice policy failure going back decades. It creates the platform for penal policy to take a much-needed new direction. As Mr Gauke says, this will take bravery from government. Encouragingly, the lord chancellor, Shabana Mahmood, has accepted most recommendations in principle, though with some exceptions. The need now, though, is for sustained action, investment and results.When the review was established in 2024, prisons for men had been at 99% of capacity for 18 months and a surge of further prison sentences was developing after the summer riots. Managed early-release measures eased some pressures, but demand for places is still projected to exceed supply by 9,500 in 2028. The inescapable truth is that the crisis has its roots in long traditions of excessive prison sentencing, sometimes politically and media driven, and of grossly inadequate investment in new prisons and non-custodial alternatives. Both of these things now have to change in radical and measurable ways. The Gauke review takes a wide-ranging approach. More prisons must certainly be part of the answer, but Ms Mahmood and Mr Gauke are right that Britain cannot build its way out of this crisis. That can only be ended by different sentencing policies, on which the review makes proposals on everything from the sentencing of serial violent offenders to the need for more deferred sentences for low-risk offenders with high needs, including pregnant women. Continue reading...

Comments

Opinions

Operation Stork Speed will ensure babies get the nutrition they need

washington times

DOMINIC LAWSON: What a farce! Labour is happy to import oil from Norway's side of the North Sea - while banning drilling on ours

about 1 hour ago

Dailymail

ANDREW PIERCE: Is a Reform row brewing over voting changes?

about 1 hour ago

Dailymail

How concerned should I be about my crusty brown skin patches? Dr Ellie reveals whether you should be worried about cancer

about 6 hours ago

Online gambling is engineered addiction — here’s how to rein it in

Newyork Post

DEAR JANE: I'm scared my girlfriend will VOMIT when she discovers what I did with the boys behind her back. But it felt so good

about 10 hours ago

Abcarian: Bravo to all those engaged in the struggle against Trump's anti-democratic bullying

LA Times

FLOURISHING AFTER 50: My daughter has asked me to retire early to help look after her two children and I don't really want to. What should I do?

about 23 hours ago

Sir Keir Starmer can sell us out all he likes but EU wants us to beg – but history shows we NEVER will

The Sun

England ticked off almost all their troubles against Zimbabwe... but Sam Cook is a worry and will not feel he did himself justice, writes NASSER HUSSAIN

1 day ago

Dailymail

PETER HITCHENS: I've discovered there may be hidden powerful forces with an interest in keeping Lucy Letby behind bars. Now, I'm exposing them

1 day ago

Dailymail

The end of Rachel Reeves: Furious Labour insiders tell me there's 'blood in the water', she's about to hike taxes AGAIN and reveal her pathetic new tactic: DAN HODGES

1 day ago

Dailymail

I forgave my wife for her girls' trip affair... until she said something in bed that will haunt me forever: SAUCY SECRETS

1 day ago

Surprisingly, telling people road closures are 'for their own good' goes down badly

The Herald

Why Son Heung-min is now a bigger Tottenham legend than Harry Kane, Gareth Bale and Luka Modric, writes RIATH AL-SAMARRAI

1 day ago

Dailymail

I've stopped sleeping with my husband because I'm repulsed by my promiscuous past. Sex is evil - and I want no part of it: BEL MOONEY has the answer

1 day ago

Dailymail

BORIS JOHNSON: In the week Labour announced plans to release rapists and killers early, there's one prisoner who poses no threat... FREE LUCY CONOLLY NOW

2 days ago

'This will be devastating for all of us': why welfare reforms don’t need to happen

The Herald

Comments

Opinions

Operation Stork Speed will ensure babies get the nutrition they need

Why Memorial Day demands more than a pause

Reflecting on Memorial Day's true meaning

EPIC City gets 86'ed: No Shariah law in Texas, Gov. Abbott says

Psychological projection playbook: How elites blame you for what they do

Who's afraid of artificial intelligence?

Is there anything Keir Starmer won’t U-turn on? If voters don’t like his principles, no problem, he just changes them

RUTH SUNDERLAND: Closed minds and group-think are the enemies of growth

DOMINIC LAWSON: What a farce! Labour is happy to import oil from Norway's side of the North Sea - while banning drilling on ours

ANDREW PIERCE: Is a Reform row brewing over voting changes?

How concerned should I be about my crusty brown skin patches? Dr Ellie reveals whether you should be worried about cancer

Online gambling is engineered addiction — here’s how to rein it in

The dead we honor: Remembering the fallen this Memorial Day through Shakespeare

Secret Chinese links behind anti-Israel groups that fostered Elias Rodriguez’s hate

Embassy staffers’ hate-driven killing: Letters to the Editor — May 26, 2025

‘Death Before Dishonor’: Never forget true US heroes like John Basilone

Memorial Day is for freedom’s defenders — like our son Omer Neutra, slain by Hamas

JB Pritzker is acting presidential — too bad his state is in such shambles

DEAR JANE: I'm scared my girlfriend will VOMIT when she discovers what I did with the boys behind her back. But it felt so good

Abcarian: Bravo to all those engaged in the struggle against Trump's anti-democratic bullying

Contributor: Why public lands should stay public and protected

Labour can defeat Reform if it takes a grown-up approach to immigration

New book encouraging more parents into education reminds us why colleges are vital

Island life has taught me I am not too good to clean a toilet

Make America safe for Jews again

SARAH VINE: The Kardashians' mum hasn't just turned back the clock - she's smashed it to smithereens

ALEXANDRA SHULMAN'S NOTEBOOK: Will I ever find luggage that I can hold on to?

Antisemitism may well be the downfall of America

Sir Keir Starmer is making a mistake if he plans to characterise his battle against Farage as some sort of moral crusade

Angela Rayner wants the top job and she cannot be dismissed – but Labour must not lurch to left

FLOURISHING AFTER 50: My daughter has asked me to retire early to help look after her two children and I don't really want to. What should I do?

Sir Keir Starmer can sell us out all he likes but EU wants us to beg – but history shows we NEVER will

JEFF PRESTRIDGE: Proof that Labour despises Britain's middle-class savers

TONY HETHERINGTON: I was hounded over an £11 road toll in Hungary - which I'd paid!

Pets will never replace babies even though they’re easier option for millennials… or this country will go to the dogs

England ticked off almost all their troubles against Zimbabwe... but Sam Cook is a worry and will not feel he did himself justice, writes NASSER HUSSAIN

PETER HITCHENS: I've discovered there may be hidden powerful forces with an interest in keeping Lucy Letby behind bars. Now, I'm exposing them

The end of Rachel Reeves: Furious Labour insiders tell me there's 'blood in the water', she's about to hike taxes AGAIN and reveal her pathetic new tactic: DAN HODGES

I forgave my wife for her girls' trip affair... until she said something in bed that will haunt me forever: SAUCY SECRETS

Surprisingly, telling people road closures are 'for their own good' goes down badly

The TV channel that saved us, and heralds the change to come

Forget Scotland in Europe. It is the UK which deals with Brussels now

Look after Scotland first with new winter fuel payment

Today's Herald cartoon

'This whisky distillery in China could be straight out of a James Bond film'

No Mark Zuckerberg, AI ‘friends’ are not good for mental health

The DC Israeli Embassy staffer killings are what happens when words become weapons

Tax lien sales by NYC threaten to worsen the affordable housing crisis

Trump’s wild tariff tactics risk giving everyone a bad case of burnout

Casinos? Marijuana? Why NY should stop trying to legalize vices

Palm Springs bomber’s pro-death insanity and more: Letters to the Editor — May 25, 2025

Why Son Heung-min is now a bigger Tottenham legend than Harry Kane, Gareth Bale and Luka Modric, writes RIATH AL-SAMARRAI

I've stopped sleeping with my husband because I'm repulsed by my promiscuous past. Sex is evil - and I want no part of it: BEL MOONEY has the answer

BORIS JOHNSON: In the week Labour announced plans to release rapists and killers early, there's one prisoner who poses no threat... FREE LUCY CONOLLY NOW

'This will be devastating for all of us': why welfare reforms don’t need to happen

Look at the facts: criticism of the CalMac ferries is anything but 'exaggerated'

I received death threats when I edited the Church of Scotland's doomed magazine

Labour’s taste for biological extremism is both creepy and dangerous

We need to supercharge growth in the clean energy sector

Republicans aren’t coming CLOSE to cutting Medicaid as much as America actually needs