If ever there were a week for me to commit a crime, this was it. The Sentencing Council – which advises judges on how long convicted criminals should be locked up for – was poised to implement guidance that would mean that, as an ethnic minority, I stood a better chance of avoiding prison than a white male. But at the last minute, they capitulated. Fortunately, as a woman, I still stand a good chance of avoiding being locked up if I end up in trouble.
Rhetoric from both parties against two-tier justice – where criminals are treated differently because of who they are – has been strong. The Lord Chancellor, Shabana Mahmood, has declared that she is against ‘any differential treatment before the law for anyone of any kind’. Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick lamented the guidelines, which he said are biased against men, white people, and Christians. You might conclude from these statements that neither Labour nor the Conservatives would tolerate a justice system in which men and women are treated differently on the basis of their sex, but the reality is quite different.
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