A Member of Parliament has called for judges should face “consequences” if they give lenient sentences to criminals who go on to re-offend.
Speaking in a debate on the Prisons and Courts Bill, Philip Davies, the Conservative MP for Shipley, said: “I would recommend giving consideration to making judges accountable for their decisions, particularly when they do not hand down custodial sentences that are perfectly justifiable and possibly even expected, and particularly when the offender goes on to reoffend.”
“I do not need to say now what the consequences of collecting such information should be, but it should be clear to many that where a judge consistently allows offenders to avoid prison, and those offenders go on to make others suffer as a result of their continuing crime spree, there should be accountability and consequences for that judge.”
Judges are in the public eye at the moment, after attacks on them in the media.
Nevertheless, they remain one of the professional groups most trusted by the general public, according to research from Ipsos-Mori.
