You be the Judge, the Council’s new interactive website, is now live. The website allows you to put yourself in the judge’s or magistrates’ chair to make decisions based on real-life cases and decide what the sentence should be.

You be the Judge, which is supported by the Judiciary of England and Wales, gives you the opportunity to watch six shortened, dramatised cases related to burglary, fraud, assault, and possession of drugs, a knife, and a firearm. You can listen to the facts of each case as they relate to the offence and the offender and weigh up the aggravating and mitigating factors before deciding what you think is an appropriate sentence. You can then see how your sentence compares with the one handed down by the judge or magistrates.

Launching the new website, Chairman of the Sentencing Council, Lord Justice William Davis, said: “You be the Judge gives the public an unique opportunity to see for themselves how complex the sentencing process is and how sentencing guidelines help judges and magistrates take a consistent approach. Watching the scenarios, people will be able to see how judges and magistrates balance the seriousness of the offence, the impact on the victim, the circumstances of the offender and the need to protect the public in deciding on a proportionate and appropriate sentence.”

The Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales, Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill, said: “The Judiciary of England and Wales supports the Sentencing Council’s new initiative to increase the public’s understanding of how sentencing works. Judges and magistrates make decisions based on the circumstances of the cases before them, and You be the Judge is a great way to encourage greater understanding of decisions made across the courts.”