A controversial quango is under fresh pressure to leave its 'dual justice plan' after the equality watchdog of Great Britain warned that it can be discriminatory.
The conviction council has so far refused to withdraw over its proposal to give special treatment to ethnic minorities and transgender people convicted of crimes.
It has rejected requests from justice secretary Shabana Mahmood to reconsider the guidelines, which means that next month's courts should order pre-sentence reports for minority groups and therefore make it more likely that they have saved the prison.
But yesterday the head of the equality and human rights committee revealed that it also intervened in line – in which the advisory body is warned of judges that it can break the legal requirement for all public authorities to prevent discrimination.
Baroness Falkner told Times Radio that she felt a 'much sympathy' for the conviction council, but continued: 'I wonder if it could take advantage of a different look.
'I wrote to the Sentreing Council yesterday because we are worried from a perspective of an Equality Act in terms of the duty of equality in the public sector.
The conviction council has rejected requests by the judiciary secretary Shabana Mahmood to re-think his guidelines
Lady Falkner explained: 'If having a pre-ordering report is an advantage, you run the risk of positive discrimination for those groups that are in the list and not for other groups'
'We have offered to help them determine whether there can be any discrimination by omitting some groups and elevating others. So we wait to see if they want to use our help, but we are ready to help. '
Lady Falkner explained: “If having a pre-ordering report is an advantage, you run the risk of positive discrimination for those groups that are in the list and not for other groups.”
She said it would be better if judges were looking for pre-judgment reports that were written by probation officers and providing details about the personal background of offenders, criminal registers and risk factors 'per case, instead of categorizing certain groups'.
