Justice Secretary calls for sentencing guideline to be reversed over ethnicity

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood giving a speech at London Probation Headquarters in central London (Ben Whitley/PA) - (PA Wire)

The Justice Secretary is calling for new guidance for judges – to consider a defendant’s ethnicity when deciding whether to send them to prison – to be reversed over concerns of “two-tier sentencing”.

The Sentencing Council published new principles for courts to follow when imposing community and custodial sentences, including whether to suspend jail time, on Wednesday.