UK’s New Sentencing Guidelines Biased Against White Men & Christians

The UK Sentencing Council has rejected calls from the justice secretary to change guidance recommending judges consider a criminal’s ethnicity before deciding their punishment.

The Sentencing Council published the guidance. It is the independent public body that advises judges and magistrates on sentencing.

The updated guidance, which is due to come into force from April, says that a pre-sentence report will “usually be necessary” before punishing someone of an ethnic, cultural, or faith minority alongside other groups such as young adults aged 18 to 25, women, and pregnant women.

The guidance, effective from April 1, broadens the categories of cases in which pre-sentence reports should be sought.

The guideline states that pre-sentence reports “will normally be considered necessary” in a number of circumstances. These include cases where the offender is a young adult, a sole or primary carer for dependent relatives, female, a victim of domestic abuse or trafficking, or suffers from addiction issues or a serious chronic medical condition.

However, it is the recommendation for pre-sentence reports before sentencing offenders from ethnic, cultural or faith minorities which has proved particularly controversial.

If you are an ethnic minority, you might avoid jail altogether. It amounts to bias against white men and Christians.

The opposition minister Robert Jenrick said that there is a “blatant bias against Christians and straight white men”. Meanwhile, the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has urged the Sentencing Council to review the guidance. Mahmood threatened to legislate to give the government powers to overrule the council.

She waited too long or didn’t even read the guidelines.

Sir Keir Starmer said today that he was “disappointed” with the Sentencing Council’s refusal to change guidance and that “all options are on the table” over how the government might respond.

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