New guidelines will see judges considering more lenient sentences for criminals from “deprived” or “difficult” backgrounds. The Sentencing Council, the official body that makes recommendations for judges and magistrates, has released a set of “mitigating” factors relating to disadvantages which courts should take into account before passing sentence. The advice on “difficult and/or deprived background or personal circumstance” includes factors such as poverty, low educational attainment, experience of discrimination and insecure housing. Despite pushback from Alex Chalk, the Lord Chancellor an…
