Last night The Telegraph reported on two additional pieces of highly suspect 2025 guidance in the justice system, this time from the Probation Service:
The Ministry of Justice’s official response to that is to say: “These guidelines were first brought in under the last government. This Government will ensure equality in the courts.” Meanwhile on the guidance Labour “pointed to its origins under the Tories in 2016.” Neither bit of spin adds up…
There is no mention of trauma from racism or discrimination in the previous Probation Service pre-sentencing report guidance from 2021 or 2016. Neither is there mention of the need to take into account the “culture” of the offender. Not the ‘last government,’ then…
Guidance for issuing bail to minorities also pre-dates the last government. As early as 2007 bail guidance was set out in New Labour’s “Bail Information Scheme” to “prioritise women, BME and vulnerable prisoners.” Not the ‘last government,’ then…
Labour’s spin operation is clearly running a little loose as it becomes increasingly clear that on its watch two-tier justice is advancing in earnest. At midnight tonight those new Sentencing Council rules come into effect unimpeded by the government…
Speaking on Times Radio, former Home Secretary David Blunkett spoke about overdiagnosis of mental problems:
“Let’s distinguish those who are really severely mentally ill, diagnosed with things that require prolonged medical and diagnostic treatment. My wife and I talk about this a lot, because she’s a retired GP, about the fact that you can be sad without being ill. You can be momentarily depressed because your boyfriend or girlfriend’s just thrown you and you’re not mentally ill. You can even have mild issues, which can be dealt with with the right kind of support, but it doesn’t make you mentally ill. So we’ve got a real task, I think, to get the psychology, if you like, of this over. But there are things where you definitely need medical intervention, and there are other things where you need good friends, you need good connectivity, and you need a job.”