Why the Justice Secretary is Wrong and Politically Inept on "Two tier Justice"

 

As the Guardian suggests, the government may be dipping their toe in the culture wars in their row with the Sentencing Council; but they may well end up drowning. Why?

First because they are so fundamentally wrong to accept the conservative view that long overdue and hard won efforts to address racial and other disparities in criminal justice amount to two tier justice.

Second because they have not defended the Sentencing Council, they lay themselves open to attacks on a range of other agencies who have started to take racial and other equality issues seriously. The College of Policing Race Action Plan sets out ways to improve outcomes for black people who work within or interact with policing; and the Crown Prosecution Service  action plan aims to tackle disproportionality in charging decisions.

For the Justice Secretary perhaps the biggest issue lies with probation, for which she is directly responsible. The Court Services Policy Framework issued in January 2025, under her watch,  provides guidance on the Bail Information Service which enables courts to make more informed decisions regarding the suitability of a defendant for bail. Lo and behold the key criteria to be taken into consideration for the identification of priority cohorts include

 • vulnerable defendants, such as those with mental health conditions and learning disabilities
•  young adults (18–25 years old)
•  women, pregnancy and maternity
•  defendants from ethnic minorities
•  transgender defendants

This is pretty much the list of cohorts to which the Justice Secretary has taken exception in the Sentencing Guideline. It seems inconsistent to say the least to decry "differential treatment" in sentencing while promoting it at the remand stage.  

The policy framework also includes the wholly sensible view that “to better understand the defendant, their offence/offending, capacity to desist or ability to comply with a sentencing proposal, it is vital that the pre-sentence report assessment considers the defendant’s background and culture and whether they have experienced trauma from experiences of racism or discrimination”. Is this something Ms Mahmood will now feel the need to overturn? I hope not.
If the Justice Secretary cannot support these kind of measures to address social inequality and discrimination, perhaps she is in the wrong job.