Prison Sentences: Gender
Commons · Question 119799 · Tabled 10 Mar 2026 · Ministry of Justice · Official record
Answered 16 Mar 2026
Question
Asked by James McMurdock
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of gender on (a) custodial sentence length and (b) rates of reoffending.
Answer
Answered by Jake Richards, 16 Mar 2026
Sentencing decisions are a matter for the courts, which must follow statutory sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council, unless it would be contrary to the interests of justice to do so.Those guidelines are gender‑neutral, requiring court...