“A deliberate step backwards” Revolving Doors responds to government’s block on new sentencing guidelines
Pavan Dhaliwal, CEO of Revolving Doors, has issued the following statement in response to Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood’s block on Sentencing Council guidelines that aimed to improve pre-sentence reports for people of different races, religions and cultural backgrounds:
“The Lord Chancellor’s decision to block the Sentencing Council’s guidance is a deliberate step backwards and the claim that recognising race and inequality in sentencing undermines fairness is not just wrong, it’s dangerous. The Lammy Review showed us the stark truth: Black men are 40% more likely to receive custodial sentences than white men for the same offences. Muslim people make up just 5% of the general population but 15% of the prison population. Black women are more than twice as likely to be sent to prison as white women for the same offences. That’s not equality before the law, that’s inequality baked into it.
To suggest that acknowledging these facts undermines equality is to ignore lived experience, evidence, and the reality of disparity in our courts. Pre-Sentence Reports are one of the few tools we have to challenge those disparities by giving courts the full context: poverty, trauma, racial discrimination. Blocking that progress is not about fairness, it’s about maintaining a status quo that already fails too many.
We supported the Sentencing Council’s proposals because they were based on evidence and aimed at levelling the playing field. Ignoring that evidence does nothing for public confidence in the justice system – it just entrenches mistrust.”
ENDS
Notes to the editor
Revolving Doors is a national charity working to break the cycle of crisis and crime. We advocate for a system that addresses the drivers of contact with the criminal justice system, including trauma, poverty and discrimination. We bring independent research, policy expertise and lived experience together to champion long-term solutions for justice reform.
For more information or to arrange an interview, please email or call Charlotte Sellers at charlotte.sellers@revolving-doors.org.uk / on 07483 091 774. For out of hours queries, please contact CEO Pavan Dhaliwal on 07738 435 059.
