11 October 2023

Judges told not to jail rapists as prisons are full Crown courts ordered to
delay sentencing hearings

Convicted rapists and burglars will be spared jail from next week after
judges were told that the country’s prisons are full.

Crown court judges have been ordered to delay sentencing hearings, The
Times has learnt, as the prison population has reached bursting point.

Lord Edis, the senior presiding judge for England and Wales, has ordered
that sentencing of convicted criminals who are currently on bail should be
delayed from Monday.

One senior crown court judge said that from Monday, judges have been
“ordered/strongly encouraged” not to send to prison a defendant who appears
before them on bail so as not to add to the prison population. The judge
said: “We have been told that this is a ‘short-term measure’, but nobody
knows what that means.”

<https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/judges-told-not-to-jail-rapists-as-prisons-are-full-2tfgb2czs>

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Spike