The Sentencing Council has published a review of existing research looking at the effectiveness of sentencing.

We commissioned the review from an independent academic to further the Council’s understanding of the effectiveness of sentencing options. It considers previously published research to look at the ways in which sentencing may or may not be effective in relation to sentencers, offenders, victims and the public.

Reconceptualising the effectiveness of sentencing options: four perspectives is the latest in a biennial series we are commissioning to enable the Council to consider the most up-to-date evidence when developing and revising sentencing guidelines.

We are seeking views on proposals that aim to improve the consistency, accessibility and presentation of our guidance on ancillary orders available on conviction.

The consultation covers 28 ancillary orders – for six of these, the Council is proposing new guidance: animal destruction orders; forfeiture of equipment used in animal welfare offences; parenting orders – child; serious crime prevention orders on conviction; sub-letting – unlawful profit orders; and travel restriction orders. For the remaining 22, we are proposing revised and, in some instances, more-detailed guidance.

We are asking judges, magistrates, legal advisers and all those who refer to ancillary orders in their work to give us their views on the clarity, accuracy and usefulness of the proposed new and revised guidance on any of the ancillary orders in which they have an interest.

The consultation closes on 4 December 2024.

We have published our annual report for 2023/24. The report is Lord Justice William Davis’s second as Chairman and documents the Council’s achievements of the year 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 in the context of the objectives set in the Council’s five-year strategy, Sentencing Council strategic objectives 2021-2026.

The Council’s achievements during 2023/24 include:

• publishing new and revised offence specific definitive sentencing guidelines for animal cruelty offences, motoring offences, perverting the course of justice, and witness intimidation, and a revised overarching guideline on totality

• holding our third, annual miscellaneous amendments consultation and consulting on proposed changes to the overarching guideline, Imposition of community and custodial sentences, and three offence specific guidelines, and

• publishing the findings of three research projects looking at the definitive guideline, Overarching principles: domestic abuse, expanded explanations in sentencing guidelines, and issues related to effectiveness of sentencing as a form of deterrent to offending

The Council’s fourth annual consultation on miscellaneous amendments to guidelines is now open. 

We are proposing a series of changes designed to bring greater clarity and consistency to guidelines and reflect developments in legislation. The proposals include:

• changing ‘children and young people’ to ‘children’ across all guidelines
• aligning factors in the careless driving guideline with other driving offence guidelines
• clarifying how the factor ‘Exceptional financial hardship’ in shop theft and benefit fraud relates to ‘Difficult and/or deprived background or personal circumstances’
• clarifying guidance on sentencing very large organisations
• including the aggravating factor ‘Offence committed in a domestic abuse context’ in a greater number offence specific guidelines

The consultation is open until 27 November 2024.

The Council has published an evaluation of the impact and implementation of the bladed articles and offensive weapons definitive guidelines that came into effect on 1 June 2018:

• Bladed articles and offensive weapons – possession
• Bladed articles and offensive weapons – threats
• Bladed articles and offensive weapons (possession and threats) – children and young people

Overall, the evidence reviewed suggests that the group of guidelines is generally working as intended, although conclusions about the guidelines’ impact are likely to be affected by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic from early 2020 onwards.

We have also published data collected at magistrates’ courts before and after the definitive guidelines came into effect that were drawn on as part of the evaluation. 

We are looking for an intern to work with the social researchers on our Analysis and Research team. The team supports the work of the Council by building the evidence base through research and analysis. The internship offers an excellent opportunity to work closely with policy advisors, other analytical disciplines and the Sentencing Council itself and to have a direct influence on sentencing guidelines.

The internships are open to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) doctoral students funded by the research councils of UKRI: AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC, EPSRC, MRC, NERC and STFC.

Visit the UKRI Policy Internships website to find out more and see whether you are eligible to apply.

Applications close on 2 October 2024, 4pm UK time. The three month placement is due to start in January 2025.

You be the Judge, an interactive platform created by the Sentencing Council, and supported by the Judiciary of England and Wales, has gone live today. The platform allows users to put themselves in the role of a judge or magistrate to make decisions based on real-life cases and decide what they think the sentence should be.

You be the Judge gives people the opportunity to watch six shortened, dramatised cases related to burglary, fraud, assault, and possession of drugs, a knife, and a firearm. Users of the website will 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 they think is an appropriate sentence. They will then be able to see how their sentence compares with the one handed down by the judge or magistrates.

In making You be the Judge, the Sentencing Council for England and Wales aims to help people understand how sentencing works. Each of the six cases shows the difficult and complex process judges and magistrates go through to decide a sentence and how they follow sentencing guidelines to take a consistent and transparent approach.

You be the Judge launched at King’s Academy Prospect in Reading on 10 July 2024 with pupils taking part in a lesson delivered by Her Honour Judge Khatun Sapnara, with the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales and Lord Justice William Davis also in attendance. Pupils taking part in the launch event said the website was “very enjoyable and informative”.

Launching the website, Chairman of the Sentencing Council, Lord Justice William Davis, said: “You be the Judge gives the public a 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 individual circumstances of the cases before them, and You be the Judge is a great way to encourage greater understanding of these decisions.”

Notes to editors

1. Photos from the event are available at: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBzhWL.
2. You be the Judge is available at: https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/research-and-resources/you-be-the-judge/.
3. You be the Judge was launched on 10 July 2024 at King’s Academy Prospect, Reading.
4. The scenarios follow the law as it was on 10 July 2024 when You be the Judge was launched.
5. Sentencing guidelines must be followed, unless the court is satisfied that it would be contrary to the interest of justice to do so in all the circumstances of a particular case.
6. The Sentencing Council for England and Wales (sentencingcouncil.org.uk) was established by Parliament to be an independent body but accountable to Parliament for its work, which is scrutinised by the Justice Select Committee.
7. The Judiciary of England and Wales is the independent third arm of the state. It is supported by the Judicial Office, which is an arm’s length body of the Ministry of Justice. The Judicial Office promotes and safeguards judicial independence to maintain confidence in the rule of law.

For more information, please contact Phil Hodgson, Sentencing Council, phil.hodgson@sentencingcouncil.gov.uk, 020 7071 5788; or Freya Wilks, Judicial Office freya.wilks@judiciary.uk, 07519 575925.

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.”

Today we have published our Business Plan for 2024/25, setting out the work the Council aims to undertake in the year to March 2025 to meet our statutory objectives and the objectives we set ourselves in our five-year strategy.

This work includes publishing new and revised guidelines for sentencing blackmail, kidnap and false imprisonment offences, aggravated vehicle taking offences, vehicle registration fraud and driver disqualification and immigration offences. The Business Plan also details the draft guidelines we will be consulting on during the year and our evaluation work, which will include reviewing our guidelines covering bladed articles and offensive weapons, intimidatory offences and breach offences, as well as a review of the expanded explanations that accompany some of the guideline factors.

This report will contain findings from an assessment of the impact and implementation of the Bladed articles and offensive weapons offences guidelines. The evaluation includes analysis of data from a collection exercise that was undertaken in magistrates’ courts in England and Wales before and after the definitive guidelines came into effect in June 2018. Sentencers were asked to complete a survey form whenever they sentenced an adult offender for offences of possession of a bladed article or offensive weapon, where this was the principal offence. These data will be published alongside the evaluation.

Release date: 1 August 2024 (9:30am)