{"id":7399,"date":"2026-04-02T11:16:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T10:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=7399"},"modified":"2026-04-02T11:16:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T10:16:40","slug":"suspended-sentences-now-likely-to-replace-majority-of-12-month-jail-terms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/2026\/04\/02\/suspended-sentences-now-likely-to-replace-majority-of-12-month-jail-terms\/","title":{"rendered":"SUSPENDED SENTENCES NOW LIKELY TO REPLACE MAJORITY OF 12 MONTH JAIL TERMS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As of 23rd March 2026, suspended sentences will replace short jail terms of up to twelve months &#8211; other than in exceptional circumstances. This follows the introduction of a presumption to suspend short sentences as per the Sentencing Act 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Data suggests that there are more than 6,000 prisoners serving sentences of up to twelve months at any one time, with this cohort the most likely to re-offend upon release. Indeed, the Ministry of Justice\u2019s&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/assets.publishing.service.gov.uk\/media\/5a7b826fe5274a7202e17a13\/compendium-reoffending-stats-2013.pdf\"><u>own evidence<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;shows that reconviction rates are lower for people on community orders than short sentences, and the positive impact is even more marked for&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/assets.publishing.service.gov.uk\/government\/uploads\/system\/uploads\/attachment_data\/file\/706597\/do-offender-characteristics-affect-the-impact-of-short-custodial-sentences.pdf\"><u>people with mental ill-health<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sufficient investment and support for probation will be critical in ensuring a successful, community-based justice system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For further information on the full range of sentencing measures,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/prisonreformtrust.org.uk\/presumption-to-suspend-short-sentences-comes-into-force\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>click here.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As of 23rd March 2026, suspended sentences will replace short jail terms of up to twelve months &#8211; other than [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Amelie","author_link":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/author\/amelie\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"As of 23rd March 2026, suspended sentences will replace short jail terms of up to twelve months &#8211; other than [&hellip;]","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7399"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7400,"href":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7399\/revisions\/7400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prisonersadvice.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}