Recommendation 63

Against this “generally positive picture”, we heard that sentencers “would like more information on the outcomes of the people they sentence”. 104 As Chris Jennings explained, “in usual circumstances the only time sentencers note progress of an order is usually when it is in breach”, meaning that the offender has been recalled before the Court for non-compliance with the terms of their sentence. 105 The then Chief Inspector of Probation, Justin Russell, told us that “it would seem like a good idea to build in some sort of feedback mechanism”. 106 Lord Justice William Davis remembered a time when “judges would ask for a short progress report from the supervising officer”, while acknowledging that probation staff would not have capacity to produce them systematically (see paragraphs 239–259). 107