A controversial set of new sentencing guidelines for convicted criminals in England, one which critics say would lead to ethnic minorities and women getting more lenient sentences for crimes than white males and Christians, could be blocked by Parliament. 

The justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is set to introduce a bill in the Commons that would direct judges to disregard the guidance issued by the independent Sentencing Council, which was scheduled to take effect on April 1. 

The Sentencing Council is also expected to suspend the guidelines after previously refusing the Labour government’s requests to tone them down, the Guardian reports. 

Under the guidelines, judges would be required to obtain pre-sentencing reports for offenders to help determine their punishment when the individual is from an ethnic, cultural, or faith minority. A 2018 study from the Center for Justice Innovation found that when a pre-sentence report was conducted, the offender was ten times more likely to receive a community sentence rather than imprisonment. 

Judges would be required to consider other factors as well, such as whether the offender is pregnant, from a faith minority, or if they identify as transgender. Magistrate courts typically follow the recommendations. However, Crown Court judges who handle more serious cases tend to issue sentences different from the pre-sentence report.

When they were first announced, the guidelines came under harsh criticism from conservatives in Britain and even members of Prime Minister Starmer’s liberal government. However, it would require an act of Parliament to block them.

The Conservative’s shadow justice secretary, Robert Jenrick, said the guidelines are “explicitly instructing judges to treat minorities differently.”

Ms. Mahmood vowed to “register my displeasure” with the guidelines, saying there would “never be a two-tier sentencing approach under my watch.” Mr. Starmer’s office told the BBC that it shares the justice secretary’s view. 

In a letter to the head of the Sentencing Council, Lord Justice William Davis, Ms. Mahmood said the matter of pre-sentence reports should be “a question of policy.”

“I think it is vital that the decisions taken on this question should be accountable to the public, both in parliament and at the ballot,” she wrote. “The appearance of differential treatment before the law is particularly corrosive.”

She said that “all options are on the table” to prevent the guidelines from taking effect, including legislation. 

Lord Justice Davis initially rejected pressure to abandon the guidelines. In a letter to the justice secretary, he said the council decided the guidelines “did not require revision” and that they had received positive reviews during a consultation period. He also said they are intended to address a “disparity in sentence outcomes” between white and non-white offenders.

The chief justice, however, later said the council would provide “some clarification” of the guidelines in an effort to “correct the widespread misunderstanding which has emerged in the last few weeks.”

The exact language of legislation to block the sentencing guidelines was not immediately clear. The most immediate task for Ms. Mahood is to prevent the guidance from taking effect. 

In the long term, she is also reportedly looking at ways to give Parliament more influence over the Sentencing Council, such as giving it the ability to veto or amend instructions before they take effect. The larger changes to the council likely will not be passed until after the Easter recess. 

Despite the backlash, it was expected that the guidelines would go into effect, at least initially, because the government did not act swiftly enough to block them. A source in the Ministry of Justice told the BBC there is “no world in which those guidelines don’t come into effect” on Tuesday.

In light of what seems to be impending legislation blocking the guidelines, the Sentencing Council is expected to suspend the rules to prevent confusion from having them take effect and then be shortly blocked by Parliament.