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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Tristan Kirk

Magistrates handed power to jail for a year in government bid to tackle justice crisis

Magistrates are being handed powers to sentence defendants to up to a year in prison, in a move by the Ministry of Justice aimed at relieving the prisons crisis.

Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood announced the decision on Thursday, doubling the current maximum sentence of six months in prison that can be handed down at magistrates courts for a single offence.

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