Yesterday, Peter, my deputy, and I visited Judge David Fletcher at the North Liverpool Community Court.  It was an inspirational visit  and  a welcome antidote to the Queen’s Speech, where the reform of community sentences is deeply informed  by punishment.  What we saw yesterday in Liverpool were not sentences being dished out that were soft and as some would see as “being let off” – they were rational, challenging and intelligently focussed on the individual in the dock and the need to not only get them to comply to their order, but reduce  the likelihood of reoffending.