Parole in England and Wales: Recent Reforms and Proposals for the Future
Authors: Gavin Dingwall and Megan Millar This report examines recent changes to parole in England and Wales and considers proposals for the future. It also explores a number of areas of research that would benefit from greater attention to ensure that future reforms are underpinned by the best possible evidence. Read the full […]
The Use of Deferred Sentencing in England and Wales: A Review of Law, Guidance and Research
Authors: Professor Julian V. Roberts, Dr Elaine Freer and Dr Jonathan Bild This report provides an introduction to the concept of deferred sentencing. Courts in England and Wales have long had the power to defer sentencing for up to six months. The Government’s 2020 White Paper, A Smarter Approach to Sentencing, expressed an intention […]
Sentencing Guidance, the Sentencing Council, and Black & Ethnic Minority Offenders
By Professor Julian V. Roberts and Professor Andrew Ashworth Our new paper by Professor Julian V. Roberts and Professor Andrew Ashworth examines the guidance currently provided by the Sentencing Council in respect of ethnic disparities in sentence outcomes and considers what this guidance may require sentencers to do in practice. Read the full […]
Public Knowledge of Sentencing Practice and Trends
The Sentencing Academy has published a new report exploring public understanding of sentencing in England and Wales. Public Knowledge of Sentencing Practice and Trends is authored by Professor Julian V. Roberts, Dr Jonathan Bild, Dr Jose Pina-Sánchez and Professor Mike Hough and is based on polling conducted for the Sentencing Academy by YouGov in September […]
Intoxication and Sentencing
By Carly Lightowlers Alcohol and drug related offending present a perennial criminal justice challenge. Not only are illicit drug and alcohol use associated with offences where intoxication is an element of the offence, such as driving under the influence, but intoxication is a contributory factor in many crimes (Lightowlers and Pina-Sánchez 2017). Indeed, in […]
Sentencing Academy Fellowship Scheme
During the course of 2020/21, the Sentencing Academy ran a Fellowship Scheme as part of our commitment to furthering knowledge on sentencing issues and widening participation. Anisa Kebbati and Jamie Dickson were supervised to produce a piece of research on a sentencing issue of their choice and we are very grateful to Dr Shona Minson […]
Respect and Legitimacy at Sentencing: November 2021
By Gabrielle Watson This paper introduces the concepts of respect and legitimacy and considers their relevance to sentencing practice in England and Wales. A review of research reveals that relatively little is known about defendants’ perceptions of legitimacy at sentencing, and even less about their perceptions of respect, despite the dominance of these […]
Defendants’ Understanding of Sentencing
By Jessica Goldring The sentencing framework is premised on an assumption that defendants understand how the process works and will respond accordingly. For example, they will be deterred by the prospect of longer sentences or will enter a guilty plea at the first opportunity to maximise their sentence reduction. Without a full understanding […]
Ethnicity And Custodial Sentencing
Julian V. Roberts and Jonathan Bild Are sentencing outcomes different for ethnic minority defendants? Which ethnic groups attract the harshest sentences? Over the past 30 years a number of official reports have addressed the role of race and ethnicity in criminal justice decision-making. Although several studies have focused on sentencing, to date, no review […]
Community Orders
By Eoin Guilfoyle Magistrates and judges have a range of custodial and non-custodial options to choose from when sentencing an individual convicted of an offence in England and Wales. The custodial options are either various forms of immediate imprisonment or a Suspended Sentence Order (technically a custodial sentence served in the community on […]
Out Of Court Disposals
By Cerys Gibson This report describes the current status of adult out of court disposals1 in England and Wales and draws on a review of relevant research over the period 2010-2020. It focuses on the efficiency and effectiveness of the system of out of court disposals in reducing reoffending and improving victim satisfaction in […]
The Effectiveness Of Sentencing Options
By Melissa Hamilton The purposes of sentencing were first specified in statute in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and include punishment and the prevention of crime. This paper focuses on the possible preventive effectiveness of key criminal sanctions. Re-offending rates are the most common measure of effectiveness – although others have been proposed […]
