Following pressure from Unlock and other organisations in the criminal justice sector, the Government have announced that they will be removing the ‘naming and shaming’ clause from their Sentencing Bill.
Proposals in Clause 35 would have given probation practitioners new powers to publicly share the names and photographs of people carrying out unpaid work as part of a community sentence.
In a letter to ministers, signed by Unlock and coordinated by the Prison Advice and Care Trust (PACT), we expressed concern that these ‘naming and shaming’ proposals would do little to support rehabilitation or reduce reoffending. In fact, these proposals would make it harder for people to move on with their lives and would harm the families and children of people on these sentences.
As well as our joint letter, Unlock campaigned against these proposals in our conversations with government officials.
The Prisons Minister Lord Timpson has now announced in a statement in the House of Lords that Clause 35 will be removed from the Sentencing Bill, scrapping these proposals. We are delighted that the Government have listened to Unlock, others in the sector, and those with lived experience of community sentences.
You can read Lord Timpson’s full statement here.
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