Richard Garside

I wrote ‘detailed line-by-line scrutiny’ in the last post, but I’ve since learned that the plan is for the Committee Stage to all be done in one single day tomorrow

So, you know, not so much

Sentencing Bill The Sentencing Bill is had its second reading on 16 September 2025 and is scheduled to be read by a Committee of the whole house on the 21 October 2025.

The Sentencing Bill reaches Committee Stage in the House of Commons tomorrow

Committee Stage is when MPs do detailed line-by-line scrutiny of the Bill

@houseofcommons.parliament.uk Library has produced a briefing on what’s in the Bill

commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...

“... This is particularly urgent considering the spread of misinformation and misleading information on the law following the Supreme Court judgment which continues to circulate widely”

www.equalityhumanrights.com/our-work/adv...

“It is... our strong preference, having been advised at expert level about its scope and accuracy, that the updated draft Code be brought into force as soon as possible to reflect the law as it has now been clarified by the Supreme Court...

Knives, offensive weapons and serious violence Information on knife crime in England and Wales: possession offences, rules for retailers and efforts to prevent serious violence.

From @houseofcommons.parliament.uk Library, an overview of knives, weapons and serious violence: what the law is, enforcement powers and government proposals to tackle serious violence

commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...

Technology in policing: Advances and limitations Every day, police officers across the country use a variety of technologies in the course of their duties. Some of these technologies have been used for almost a century, while others have been introd...

From @houseoflords.parliament.uk Library, an overview of police use of technology over time: from fingerprints and DNA to facial recognition, drones and AI

lordslibrary.parliament.uk/technology-i...

A couple recent briefings out from @houseofcommons.parliament.uk and @houseoflords.parliament.uk libraries that caught my eye

🎯

Tory plan to scrap judge-led Sentencing Council criticised as ‘bonkers’ Ex-Conservative ministers denounce Robert Jenrick’s intention to abolish body that develops court guidelines

“This is bonkers... The Sentencing Council has done good work in providing consistency even if it may not be perfect. The [Jenrick] proposal is the cheapest form of politics as he must know it is unimplementable”

www.theguardian.com/law/2025/oct...

Let’s not make the racism and misogyny uncovered by the BBC a case of a few ‘rotten apples’ in one police station in central London

There is a more general, and persistent, problem in policing

There are also many good police officers who will be horrified by the revelations

“Both politics and personal feelings don’t impinge scientific truths and that needs to be clearly understood”

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09...

💥 #FiLiA2025 speaker news 💥

@jophoenix1.bsky.social Professor of Criminology, author & academic, who has researched sex, gender & justice for more than three decades. Former Trustee of @crimeandjustice.bsky.social

🎟️ filia.org.uk/tickets

#SexNotGender #Brighton #Sisterhood #Solidarity

www.itv.com/news/wales/2...

UN to investigate ‘national scandal’ of prisoners trapped on IPP jail terms Exclusive: A complaint being lodged with the UN claims IPP prisoners are being arbitrarily detained, as a bombshell letter proves David Lammy agrees the jail terms are a ‘grave injustice’

Important to keep the pressure up on the government on the scandalous #IPP sentence

Well done IPP Committee in Action

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crim...

Lifelong sentences can be 'inhuman and degrading', campaigners warn Concerns have been raised about how orders for lifelong restriction are being implemented in Scotland.

“He goes through cycles where he feels just utter despair and it's very hard for us to know how to comfort him, because it is a hopeless situation

“How do you keep somebody hopeful when there is no hope?”

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The new Justice Ministerial line-up MoJ Ministerial Team updated 9 September 2025

A further update to the MoJ ministerial line up with Jake Richards & Baroness Levitt added as well as new Lord Chancellor/Justice Sec David Lammy www.russellwebster.com/the-new-just...

Policy and communications officer | Centre for Crime and Justice Studies | CharityJob Apply now for Policy and communications officer. , £35,266 per year, find a career with meaning today

We’re currently recruiting for a policy and communications officer

Great job for the right candidate

On the downside, you’ll be working with me quite a bit of the time

www.charityjob.co.uk/jobs/centre-...

Parliamentlive.tv Justice and Home Affairs Committee

I’ll be giving oral evidence to the ‪@houseoflords.parliament.uk‬ Justice and Home Affairs Committee tomorrow at 11.15 am on criminal justice electronic monitoring/tagging

Watch it here, if that’s what floats your boat

www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/...

Smart, self-critical and less patronising

Is it time for a rethink on the way criminal justice reformers do criminal justice reform?

My latest commentary on what’s what

www.crimeandjustice.org.uk/smart-self-c...

Peter Hain says UK government ‘digging itself into hole’ over Palestine Action Peer opposed banning group and says fellow Labour peers and MPs are regretting proscription

“I am not soft on terrorism. But I am a strong believer that you have to know what it looks like”

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

The biggest problem for Starmer and co: the machinery of government is broken and they can’t fix it | Martin Kettle The prisons crisis is symptomatic of a dysfunctional system that is defeating these ministers as badly as those before them, says Guardian columnist Martin Kettle

“The approach in the Ministry of Justice, which oversees prisons policy, was to manage the crisis, doing ‘as little as possible as late as possible’.”

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I was sacked for refusing to call trans prisoners 'she', says officer A prison custody officer who was sacked for saying he would not address male-born transgender inmates as 'she' or 'her' has launched legal action against one of the UK's largest security firms.

”Requiring prison officers to refer to male offenders as women shows how far an organisation whose core business is managing risk related to sex has lost sight of material reality”

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

“We are keen to continue working proactively and keep abreast of any new developments that can assist in our mission to investigate miscarriages of justice”

ccrc.gov.uk/news/ccrc-la...

Rotherham grooming gang victims ‘were also abused by police’ One woman who was abused by hundreds of men walked into a police interview only to be confronted by an officer she says had raped her since the age of 12

“One woman has said she was raped from the age of 12 by a serving officer in a marked police car and that he threatened to give her back to the grooming gang if she did not comply”

www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

Domestic abuse and public violence: will the state now accept the two go hand in hand? | Joan Smith Many men arrested in disorder after the Southport murders had themselves been accused of attacking women. It’s high time police acted on these red flags, says author Joan Smith

“Many of the men who claimed to be protesting about the savage murders of three little girls at a dance class in Southport had themselves been accused of attacking women... The link between private and public violence has never been clearer”

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Two in five arrested for last summer’s UK riots had been reported for domestic abuse Police data indicates overlaps between public violent disorder and domestic violence and abuse

Colour me shocked

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

Latest crime statistics for England and Wales are released today by the Office for National Statistics

I'll be discussing them at 9.45 am this morning on Times Radio

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopula...

Smaller, but tougher

Our new report, out today, reveals that fewer young adults are being sent to prison than a decade ago, but those who are imprisoned are getting much longer sentences

#SmallerButTougher

PR 285: HMP PENTONVILLE INSPECTION REPORT EXPOSES THE CRISIS IN THE UK’S JAILS SAYS UNION | The POA

“The situation at Pentonville reflects many of the issues our members are experiencing across the country. Overcrowding, understaffing, a squalid prison estate and poor leadership are indicative of a prison system in crisis”

www.poauk.org.uk/news-events/...

Mano Dura v. Uneasy Peace in El Salvador: Effects of Tough-on-Crime and Gang Truce Policies in the Former Murder Capital of the World Abstract. Until recently, El Salvador had one of the world’s highest homicide rates, largely driven by criminal groups. Since 2003, the government attempte

Interesting new research out in the British Journal of Criminology

Homicides in El Salvador rose when tough on crime policies were pursued, and fell when policies based on truces and negotiation with and between gangs were followed

academic.oup.com/bjc/advance-...