Magistrates to be given greater sentencing powers by ministers

Ministers will announce plans within days to give magistrates in England and Wales fresh powers to hand down longer custodial sentences to help reduce the backlog in crown courts and prisons, the Guardian understands.

- Rajeev Syal

The development will allow magistrates to try more serious crimes, and double the maximum punishments handed out for an offence from six to 12 months.

The proposal could also reduce the number of prisoners awaiting trial in prison, known as “on remand”, Whitehall insiders said. In June, there were a record 17,070 prisoners on remand in England and Wales, a fifth of the prison population.

The government is preparing to release hundreds more prisoners under the SDS40 early-release scheme next Tuesday amid growing concern over the creaking criminal justice system. Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, has previously warned that the government inherited a prison system that is on the “point of collapse”.

However, the latest move to give magistrates greater powers is expected to result in a backlash from barristers, who have warned that it would be a “kneejerk reaction” that would “simply make things worse” for overcrowded prisons.