The Sentencing Council published its assessment of the impact of the Robbery Definitive Guideline on sentencing trends, under its statutory duty to monitor the operation and effect of its sentencing guidelines and to draw conclusions from this information. The assessment reflects the Council’s approach of seeking to improve its work through consultation and evaluation.

The guideline specified, for the first time, that judges should place all robberies committed with knives or guns in the highest level of culpability or blame. The assessment shows that after the guideline, which applies to adults only, came into effect average sentences rose beyond the upper limit of what would be expected from normal fluctuations in sentencing.

The types of robbery covered in the guideline include:

• Street and less sophisticated commercial robbery
• Robbery in a dwelling
• Professionally planned commercial robbery

Summary of robbery guideline assessment

Robbery guideline assessment