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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Rajeev Syal Home affairs editor

Ministers to give magistrates in England and Wales more sentencing powers

England Wales Prison Shabana Mahmood Whitehall
Shabana Mahmood leaving No 10 Downing Street
Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, has previously warned the prison system was on the ‘point of collapse’. Photograph: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing/Getty Images

Ministers will announce plans within days to give magistrates in England and Wales fresh powers to hand down longer custodial sentences to help reduce the backlog in crown courts and prisons, the Guardian understands.

The development will allow magistrates to try more serious crimes, and double the maximum punishments handed out for an offence from six to 12 months.

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