Arabic version: قانون جديد يلغي معظم أحكام السجن القصيرة في إنجلترا وويلز
According to BBC News,
Most offenders in England and Wales who would have faced up to a year in jail are likely to receive no more than a suspended sentence from Monday, under one of the most significant changes to jail terms in decades. Under the reform, courts must stop handing out such short prison terms other than in a number of specific or exceptional circumstances.
The measure, passed by MPs as part of the government’s plan to end the population crisis in prisons, aims to improve rehabilitation outcomes. Rehabilitation experts have indicated that short jail terms do not effectively deter crime. The Sentencing Act 2026, passed in January, is a wide-ranging package of measures which ministers hope will ease overcrowding in jails while also leading to better rehabilitation.
The new suspended sentences rule applies to offenders who are convicted from Monday, meaning that anyone who has been waiting to be sentenced after being found guilty earlier than this week will not benefit from the reform. Government statistics indicate there are more than 6,000 people in jail serving sentences of up to a year at any one time, a group identified as having a high likelihood of reoffending.
Support for the reform includes endorsements from figures like David Gauke, a former Conservative justice secretary. Riel Karmy-Jones KC, chair of the Criminal Bar Association, said the reforms would make an almost immediate impact, including on court backlogs because they would encourage defendants to plead earlier. The pressure on prisons will be lessened, with more places available for those serving longer terms, especially violent and sexual offences, together with providing them with the additional rehabilitation services.
The legislation does not define what would count as exceptional circumstances for a court to jail an offender, leaving that for magistrates or a judge to decide. An associated change to bail rules means that defendants who are likely to receive a suspended sentence, if later convicted, will be less likely to be held in jail on remand ahead of a trial. At present, more than 16,000 people are being detained on remand, about a fifth of the total jail population.
