Recommendation 1

Beyond the role of the courts in imposing a sentence, the public does not have a good understanding of the role played by different state institutions in sentencing. That is unsurprising because the role played by government, Parliament, the Sentencing Council and the judiciary in sentencing involves a delicate balance of responsibilities, which are not easy to explain. Further, most of the public obtain information from the media about sentencing through reporting on individual cases, and such stories do not often provide information on the policies and responsibilities that lie behind individual sentencing decisions. The problem with this situation is that it creates an accountability gap, as it is unclear to the public which elements of sentencing the Government is responsible for.