Select committee: Justice Committee
Recommendation 15
Tenth Report - Public opinion and understanding of sentencing
Published 25 Oct 2023
Paragraph 81
Addressed to Ministry of Justice
Justice Committee Public opinion and understanding of sentencing All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Given the potential importance of public opinion in influencing sentencing policy, the Government should consider adopting a structured engagement plan to gather information on the public’s views on sentencing. Whilst we recognise the value of public polling exercises, we recommend caution be exercised in relying exclusively on the findings of ad hoc polls as an evidence base for sentencing policy decisions. The MoJ should conduct regular, structured, deliberative engagement exercises with members of the public as part of its policy development process. The Sentencing Council should also consider whether it could use structured deliberative engagement exercises as part of its public engagement work and as part of its consultations on draft guidelines, including a full range of offending scenarios, such as violent and sexual offending, if relevant.
From: Justice Committee, Tenth Report - Public opinion and understanding of sentencing (HC 305), paragraph 81, 25 October 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 18 January 2024 (deadline 25 December 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's report and says it has "delivered, or are delivering, several initiatives" on public confidence and transparency, while leaving recommendations aimed at the Sentencing Council and the judiciary to those bodies.
- On sentencing remarks, it has announced "a one-year trial" letting victims of rape and other serious sexual offences request the judge's sentencing remarks free of charge in the Crown Court. It does not extend this to all victims, citing cost to the taxpayer.
- On the Victims' Code, once the Victims and Prisoners Bill has received Royal Assent, the MoJ "will be publicly consulting on an updated Victims' Code" and will consider the information on the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme as part of that.
- On statistics, it says its quarterly Criminal Justice System Statistics publication provides more flexible data tools than a lengthy digest would, and that it "will continue to consider options" for broader visual presentations.
- On terminology, it "share[s] the objective" of accessible sentencing language and awaits the Sentencing Academy's work. On press judges, it says any consideration is "not for government but a matter for the judiciary".