Recommendation 4

HM Government Not Addressed

9. Public education: Since July 2022, television cameras have been allowed into Crown Courts for the first time to broadcast judges’ sentencing remarks. Allowing broadcasting in this way is intended to help the public better understand how our justice system works and see justice being delivered to build trust and confidence in the system. The public can access the Sky News (Courts) YouTube channel where all previous broadcast sentencing remarks are available to view. We have recently expanded the range of judiciary who can be filmed, to include Court of Appeal judges sitting in the Crown Court, who sometimes preside over the most high-profile and serious cases. However, not all sentencing remarks are filmed as applications to film are made by approved media parties and approval is at the discretion of the judiciary. Crown Court broadcasting of sentencing remarks built on the success of live streaming of cases from the Court of Appeal, which began in 2019. Most cases from the Court of Appeal (civil division) are live streamed on the judiciary’s YouTube channel. 10. Education: children and young people: The MoJ Social Mobility Department organise several programmes including facilitating Work Experience placements for students from less privileged backgrounds, most of these take place in courts. HMCTS place around 400 students annually providing them with a wider understanding of the justice and court system as well as building confidence and aspiration. We continue to work closely with HMCTS to develop and deliver interventions that have a positive and lasting impact on those from less privileged backgrounds and we will consider the findings of this report in future conversations and activity. 11. As set out in our written evidence to this inquiry, the MoJ provides publicly available information on sentencing. Gov.uk provides general information on sentencing in a way that is as easy as possible to understand. There are pages on going to court, paying fines, appealing a sentence, jury service, tribunals, victim support, being charged with a crime, cautions, community sentences and prison sentences. 12. Press releases are issued by the MoJ on all departmental updates relating to sentencing, along with updates via our social media channels on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn. Social media content might include a digital asset such as an infographic, slideshows, single image, video, or animation. Where possible we aim to include a suggested action for audiences – for example, to watch a video or click on the link to a press notice to learn more. These contain photography, illustrations, moving image or text designed to help audiences easily and quickly understand details of both sentencing in practice and of potential proposals. Content follows best practice for accessibility with consistent use of caption subtitles, voiceovers, and alt-text. Strategically, a key method that is regularly employed to engage audiences and show the impact of sentencing is partnering with authentic and relatable case studies and stakeholders (‘human-led’ storytelling). Each post is tailored for the relevant audience which varies between channels, where some channels require more detail like LinkedIn, others like Twitter need to be condensed. Social media content is also regularly re-published to build awareness amongst followers over time. Additionally, MoJ digital consistently innovates content formats for new features released by channels in order expand reach and engagement (e.g., Instagram Reels) and growing new channels (e.g., YouTube). 13. Explanatory Notes accompany all new sentencing legislation and are published on the relevant Bill page. Explanatory Notes explain the change in the law that each part of the Bill would produce and make legislation accessible to readers who may not be legally qualified or have specialised knowledge of the subject area. They can help members of the public to understand the law as it applies to them by putting a bill into context, explaining what is not apparent from the provisions of the bill itself, preventing misconceptions and giving examples of how the bill will operate in practice. 14. The Sentencing Council is considering launching a revised version of ‘You be the Judge’, an interactive, online tool that helps to educate the public about the sentencing process. 15. As regards this recommendation on public education and similar programmes—As the Committee will be aware, the Sentencing Council is independent of Government, and we understand that the Council will be responding to the Committee on the recommendations that apply specifically to the Council.