A new focus on risk management and public protection

The Crime and Policing Act 2026 introduces a host of new offences and enhanced police powers, but one of the interesting themes in the new legislation is its emphasis on risk management. This is achieved largely by giving the police more tools in respect of managing offenders and probation more scope to exercise discretion. Effective offender and risk management goes directly to reducing harm and protecting victims.

For example, the Act creates provision for Child Criminal Exploitation Prevention Orders as a civil tool to manage individuals who may not have convictions, or have committed offences, but who nevertheless pose a risk to vulnerable adults and children by grooming or coercion. The legislation mirrors the law on Sexual Harm Prevention Orders, but applies to a broader range of behaviours, enabling the police to better protect the public.  

Perhaps the clearest demonstration of Parliament's intention comes from the Sentencing Act 2026. For decades there have been statutory purposes for sentencing: retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, protection of the public, and reparation. The Sentencing Act 2026 expressly includes the protection of victims of crime. 

There are cynics who express the view that these changes have been announced at a time when the prison population has become unmanageable, and the government is trickling money into schemes such as this instead of investing in new prisons.