Mental Disorder, Disability and Sentencing: June 2022
By Dr Ailbhe O’Loughlin • This paper addresses sentencing practices and policies in respect of convicted offenders with mental disorders, disabilities or impairments. • It considers the alternatives to custody available at sentencing that allow sentencing courts to divert convicted offenders away from punishment in prison and, where appropriate, towards treatment in the […]
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 […]
Scottish Sentencing Council publishes Mental Health and Sentencing literature review
The Scottish Sentencing Council has today published a literature review we produced for them examining the issue of sentencing offenders with mental disorders. The report is authored by Dr Ailbhe O’Loughlin, Dr Jay Gormley, Dr Lucy Willmott, Dr Jonathan Bild, Professor Julian Roberts and Anna Draper and is available here: https://www.scottishsentencingcouncil.org.uk/media/2211/20220331-mental-health-literature-review-final-as-published-20220512.pdf Accompanying publication […]
Pre-Sentence Reports: April 2022
By Dr Gwen Robinson • In order for courts to craft and impose appropriate and effective sentences, sentencers need an adequate amount of information about the offender and his or her personal circumstances. The advocate’s submission on sentencing will supply some of this material. The most important source of information, however, is the pre-sentence […]
Sentencing Domestic Abuse: A Review of the Practical Issues
The Sentencing Academy has published a new paper by our Kalisher Trust intern, Anna Draper, exploring the practical issues arising from the Sentencing Council’s 2018 Overarching Principles: Domestic Abuse guideline. The paper is available Here Some of the key issues highlighted in this paper include: • The difficulty of evidencing whether […]
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: January 2022
By Dr Carly Lightowlers • Intoxication resulting from substance use commonly features as a contributory factor in offending and thus in many cases sentenced by the courts. Despite this, the role of intoxication at sentencing has received little research attention. In England and Wales, no formal sentencing guidance on how intoxication ought to be […]
Respect and Legitimacy at Sentencing: November 2021
By Dr Gabrielle Watson This paper offers a rare joint discussion of respect and legitimacy at sentencing 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 concepts elsewhere […]
Defendants’ Understanding of Sentencing: November 2021
By Jessica Goldring • Underpinning the sentencing framework is an assumption that defendants understand sentencing practice and will respond accordingly. For example, policymakers often presume that potential offenders will be deterred from committing offences by the prospect of longer sentences. However, very little is known about the extent to which those being sentenced understand […]
The Suspended Sentence Order in England and Wales: September 2021
By Eleanor Curzon and Julian V. Roberts • The Suspended Sentence Order (SSO) is a custodial sentence option available to magistrates and judges in England and Wales. Providing an offence has crossed the custody threshold, and that the sentence to be imposed is not less than 14 days and not greater than two years […]
Key trends in the use of the principal sentences, 2009-2019
We have published the first publication in our new series of statistical bulletins. The bulletin examines the proportionate use of the principal sentences (fines, community orders, suspended sentence orders and immediate custody). Read the full report here
