Recommendation 53

Lord Justice William Davis, Chair of the Sentencing Council, also told us about a change in sentencing practice. He explained that “between about 1991 and 2005, you could get a suspended sentence only if there were exceptional circumstances relating to either the offence or the offender”, such that “suspended sentences were rare.” The entry into force, in 2005, of the relevant provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 meant “there was a dramatic increase in suspended sentences and a corresponding fall in community orders.” 80 Damian Hinds MP also said: “I think it makes sense to put together community orders and suspended sentence orders, which share some of the same characteristics. If you do that, the decline in the number is not so great. Between 2005 and 2022, the decline was around 33%. That has to be seen in the context of sentences overall, which was down by about 29%.” 81 Figure 2: Sentences passed Source: Ministry of Justice, ‘Criminal justice system statistics quarterly: September 2022—Overview Table Q5.3’: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice- statistics-quarterly-september-2022 [accessed 10 October 2023]