Today we began a programme of data collection for robbery offences in the Crown Court, as part of the Sentencing Council’s analysis and research strategy. The Council concluded the Crown Court Sentencing Survey in March 2015 and has replaced it with shorter, offence-specific data collection exercises in both the Crown and magistrates’ courts. This data collection exercise for robbery is the first such exercise in the Crown Court, following data collection programmes in the magistrates’ courts for both theft and drug offences in 2015/2016.

This programme includes all Crown Courts and takes place from the 1st November to 28th April 2017. This work will help us to:

• understand how the new robbery guideline has influenced sentencing behaviour;
• establish whether the guideline has had any anticipated or unanticipated effects on sentencing practice; and
• give insights into what the causes of any unanticipated consequences may be.

The results will be used to assess the robbery guideline with a view to seeing whether any changes need to be made, and will also inform future Sentencing Council guidelines.

We would like to thank all those involved in the data collection exercise for their cooperation and support for the Sentencing Council. If there are any questions regarding this programme, please contact us at Research@SentencingCouncil.gsi.gov.uk