From Monday judges and magistrates can hand out more lenient sentences to people described as having a “difficult and/or deprived background”. Amongst other things, “poverty” is included as an example of this mitigating factor. This change was initially recommended on the basis that it only applied to offences of theft and robbery because these were crimes with a potential connection to poverty. However, the Sentencing Council who are responsible for the sentencing guidelines used in courts have made it a whole lot worse by deciding to apply this mitigating factor to all offences. By introduci…
