In 2017 the Sentencing Council commissioned an independent academic to carry out an internal review to support the Council in considering how best it could exercise its statutory functions and to make recommendations on areas of work it might want to consider taking forward in the future.

The work was undertaken by Professor Sir Anthony Bottoms, Emeritus Professor at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, and his colleague, Dr Jo Parsons. 

The Council welcomes this Review, which we are publishing today alongside a summary of the work we are taking forward as a result.