Commenting on the Home Secretary’s announcement of new sentencing principles, Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust said today:

‘People who have committed terrible crimes must be punished for what they have done, victims should expect no less, but this punishment must always be based on justice never on vengeance. Will these new principles allow the courts sufficient flexibility to judge each case on detailed evidence and individual circumstances? Will these new tougher principles undermine a system of punishment which allows, through regular independent review, for the possibility of change and rehabilitation?