Understanding the growth in the prison population in England and Wales

Abstract

This study examines why the prison population in England and Wales has been rising steeply and progressively at a time when crime rates and court workloads have been falling. It concludes that while many factors are at work, the key drivers of the rise are sentencers’ increased readiness to pass custodial sentences, and when they do so, to pass longer sentences. The changes are a result of an increasingly punitive climate of opinion about crime and punishment, and inter-related changes to legislation, sentencing guidance and guideline judgments.