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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Diane Taylor

Pregnant offenders in England and Wales could be spared jail under new guidelines

Mothers and their children sitting in front of a No Births Behind Bars campaign banner
Mothers with their children protest against the jailing of pregnant women in June 2022. Photograph: Elizabeth Dalziel/Zuma Press/Alamy

Pregnant women should not be sent to jail unless it is “unavoidable”, according to new sentencing guidelines.

The guidance, published on Wednesday by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, has been hailed by campaigners as a huge milestone. It outlines a raft of new measures to stop criminals who are pregnant or mothers of children under one year old being imprisoned.

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