Birth Companions submission to the Sentencing Council consultation 2024

In this submission, Birth Companions addresses the Sentencing Council's consultation on proposed changes to guidelines around the imposition of community and custodial sentences. In it, we particularly focus on issues relating to women facing sentencing during pregnancy and the postnatal period (two years after birth). 

Our submission has been developed with input from women with relevant lived experience, and Birth Companions' frontline staff who work with women in prisons and under probation supervision after leaving custody. Our response includes proposed revisions to the draft guideline, and comments shared by members of our Lived Experience Team.