Select committee: Justice Committee
Recommendation 19
Tenth Report - Public opinion and understanding of sentencing
Published 25 Oct 2023
Paragraph 95
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)
The MoJ should establish an independent advisory panel on sentencing to consider proposed changes to sentencing policy and to provide advice to ministers. The independent panel should bring together academic experts, the voluntary sector, and, importantly, representatives of victims of crime and their families. It is vital for the legitimacy of the independent panel that it should contain a diversity of opinion and a range of perspectives on sentencing. The panel should also conduct structured public engagement as part of its work. Its findings and advice should be publicly available. The MoJ should also instruct the independent advisory panel to conduct regular reviews of the statutory minimum and maximum tariffs for sentences to determine whether sentences are proportionate and consistent across different types of offence.
From: Justice Committee, Tenth Report - Public opinion and understanding of sentencing (HC 305), paragraph 95, 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".