Breaking the cycle: The Sentencing Review marks a turning point – funding and collaboration will be key to its success
I was a baby when I first went to prison. If somebody had been there, if maybe they had community sentences or done something back then with the resources or the services, it would have saved 21 years of my life being wasted.
– Lived experience member
After years of campaigning, co-producing evidence with our members, and making the case for change in sentencing policy, the Government-commissioned Sentencing Review has responded and responded well.
The long-awaited Sentencing Review has taken on board many of the recommendations made in our submission, many of which are rooted in our Beyond the Cycle publication and lived experience insights. It represents a meaningful shift away from a punitive model and towards smarter, rehabilitative justice. That shift deserves recognition. But recognition alone won’t break the cycle, implementation will.
A long time coming
Let’s be honest: reform of this kind has been a long time coming. For over a decade, the justice system has struggled under the weight of rising prison populations, increasingly complex needs among people in contact with the system, and declining faith in community alternatives.
In the meantime, our members, people with lived experience of the criminal justice system have continued to be caught in a system that punishes vulnerability, not just offending. Short prison sentences, often for low-level crimes linked to poverty, addiction or trauma, have failed to reduce reoffending and only entrenched disadvantage. This is a relatively small group, but one with an outsized impact: the revolving door cohort is estimated to cost the system over £1 billion per year in repeat contact with courts, prisons, police and emergency services.
But the human cost? That’s even higher.
Short prison sentences come with a reoffending rate close to 60%. People lose jobs, homes, family ties and what little stability they may have had. Each time they leave prison, they return to even deeper unmet needs and even fewer support options. This isn’t justice. It’s just expensive failure.
Our members know this. They’ve lived it. They’ve made the case time and again that short sentences don’t work. And now, with many of our recommendations reflected in the Sentencing Review, we have a genuine opportunity to do things differently.
Against this backdrop, the Sentencing Review is both timely and essential. We applaud the Government in measured terms, for finally taking these issues seriously.
What’s changed and why it matters
Many of the recommendations we made have been picked up and echoed in the Review:
- An end to short sentences – long advocated for in our Short Sighted campaign is now a central recommendation, with new legislation proposed to limit short custodial terms to exceptional cases.
- Investment in community sentence treatment requirements reflects our evidence on what works: trauma-informed, multi-agency support for those with mental health and substance misuse needs.
- Expansion of problem-solving courts, which we are currently evaluating, is an evidence based approach for those whose offending is rooted in unmet need and who need support, not just punishment.
- Deferred sentences and pre-sentence reports are set to play a greater role – key asks from our Beyond the Cycle framework, recognising the value of individualised, responsive justice.
These changes are more than tweaks to a broken system. They represent a philosophical shift: from punishing failure to enabling rehabilitation.
A moment for political leadership
This is not just a technical review. It’s a political choice.
For too long, justice reform has been hampered by a fear of being seen as ‘soft on crime’. Yet, as our polling shows, the public are more pragmatic than punitive. They want what works. And what works is prevention, not prison.
The Government’s decision to adopt these reforms shows a welcome willingness to listen to the evidence, to the voluntary sector, and most importantly, to people with lived experience. But this commitment must now be matched with courage and coordination across Whitehall.
Because here’s the truth: the justice system alone cannot fix what are essentially health, housing, and social care problems.
The real test: A whole-system approach
The most effective interventions don’t start in the courtroom – they start in the community. That’s why we are calling for:
- A cross-government taskforce to drive and coordinate reform, with representation from health, housing, probation, policing and the voluntary sector.
- Sustained, ring-fenced investment in community-based alternatives and peer support, especially in areas with the highest rates of repeat, low-level offending.
- A clear legal presumption against short sentences, to avoid drift and deliver on the Review’s ambition.
- Vetting reform so that people with lived experience can lead and support the very services designed to help.
Only by embedding a whole-system, trauma-informed approach – with properly funded services across sectors – can we realise the full potential of this Review.
Looking ahead
Beyond the Cycle, our blueprint for sentencing reform, set out what needed to change. This Review takes us several steps closer to that vision. But it’s now up to policymakers to walk the path. The cycle won’t be broken by good intentions or even good ideas – it’ll be broken by bold implementation, fair funding, and relentless collaboration.
To those in government: we’re ready to work with you. To our funders and partners: thank you for standing with us.
To our members: this is your win and now we will work with you towards co-producing a system that works.
Voices like mine are needed in all the places people develop policy that affects people with experiences like mine. I thought I was going to die an addict, but now I get the opportunity to help others see there’s hope on the other side and that they should just keep trying. If I can go from the streets to the Houses of Parliament anyone can.
– Lived experience member
