Hefty jail terms for Just Stop Oil activists ‘set a terrible example for the rest of the world’

A majority of the public thinks the four- and five-year sentences handed out to Just Stop Oil activists were too harsh, researchers have found, while academics warn harsh punishments will do little to deter further protests.

A judge sentenced four activists to four years in prison for conspiracy to cause a public nuisance after planning four days of disruption to the M25. Co-founder Roger Hallam received a five-year sentence, with the terms believed to be the harshest ever handed out to peaceful protesters.

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In a poll conducted by Social Change Lab, a think-tank researching the effectiveness of protest movements, 61% of respondents said they believed the sentences were too harsh. Just 12% felt the sentences were too lenient while 27% thought they were proportionate.

“We were really struck by the contradiction between the opinions of some in the media that people engaging in disruptive protests should be harshly punished, and what the public have told us,” said Markus Ostarek, director of research of Social Change Lab.

“This poll indicates a striking consensus among the British public that the sentences delivered to the Just Stop Oil campaigners do not align with the perceived gravity of their actions. This raises important questions about the proportionality of sentencing in cases of peaceful protest.”

Gina Romero, the UN’s special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, called the sentences disproportionate.

“It deepens the persecution to the environmental movement and the constraints to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association in the UK, and sets a terrible example for the rest of the world,” Romero told the Big Issue.

The sentences were met with widespread condemnation from environmental and human rights groups. Labour backer and former Just Stop Oil donor Dale Vince called for the new attorney general Richard Hermer KC to intervene in the case.

During the two-week trial, the defendants were denied the ability to use any defences in law against causing a public nuisance. One defendant’s lawyer argued that their client was unlikely to reoffend as Labour has announced a ban on new North Sea oil and gas projects – the oil which Just Stop Oil aims to stop.

They were sentenced under anti-protest measures introduced by the Conservative government in 2022, designed to act against disruptive protest. The Public Order Act was also controversially used to arrest anti-monarchy protesters during the coronation of King Charles III.

But harsh sentences may in fact have the opposite effect, warned Benjamin Abrams, a lecturer in sociology at University College London and editor of an academic journal on protest.

 “The sentences passed against Hallam and other JSO activists may appear to be serious deterrents against the kind of activism JSO has become famous for, but such a conclusion would be mistaken.”

Abrams said his research had found activists committed to fighting climate change had “priced in” the risk of arrest and imprisonment, and that harsh punishments could spur others on to action. Severe sentences for previously less-punished offences may even have the opposite effect of making activists think more serious action is worth it, said Abrams.

“With conspiracy to cause public nuisance now commanding hefty sentences, highly committed climate disruptors such as JSO activists will be inclined to consider other forms of direct action with greater potential for disruption reflective of the new risks they are taking. If it was the court’s objective to reduce the public’s exposure to disruption by JSO and other groups, it will likely be sorely disappointed in the result,” he said.

“In sum, the court has effectively ‘upped the ante’ for disruptive climate activism, and once again shone a spotlight on JSO and climate action during a time when the group’s initial demands had been met and public attention was otherwise elsewhere. My research would suggest that the public can expect to see this reflected in renewed and radical disruptive action in the months ahead.”

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