A report examined geographic variation in custodial sentencing in England and Wales for the period 2003 to 2006 and the possible reasons for it. Custody rates, average custodial sentence lengths, and the use of life and indeterminate sentences for public protection varied significantly across the 42 criminal justice areas.
Source: Thomas Mason, Nisha de Silva, Nalini Sharma, David Brown, Gemma Harper, Local Variation in Sentencing in England and Wales, Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Dec
An official advisory body began consultation on sentencing for corporate manslaughter. Organizations guilty of corporate manslaughter should face publicity orders and fines based on average annual turnover.
Source: Corporate Manslaughter: Consultation Paper, Sentencing Advisory Panel (020 7411 5551)
Links: Consultation document | SAP press release
Date: 2007-Nov
A report examined the range of personal and social factors that judges took into account in passing sentence. Personal mitigation played an important part in sentencing decisions, and could be the decisive factor in choosing a community penalty in preference to imprisonment.
Source: Jessica Jacobson and Mike Hough, Mitigation: The role of personal factors in sentencing, Prison Reform Trust (020 7251 5070)
Links: Report | PRT press release | Speech
Date: 2007-Oct
Campaigners criticized the indeterminate sentence for public protection as 'ill-conceived and fundamentally flawed'.
Source: Indeterminate Sentences for Public Protection, Howard League for Penal Reform (020 7249 7373)
Links: HLPR press release | BBC report
Date: 2007-Sep
An official advisory body began consultation on sentencing for breach of an anti-social behaviour order. It said that in most cases involving young offenders the appropriate sentence should be a community order.
Source: Breach of an Anti-social Behaviour Order: Consultation Paper, Sentencing Advisory Panel (020 7035 5158)
Links: Consultation document | SAP press release | Guardian report | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Aug
An official advisory body issued revised guidance on the statutory obligation to take account of any guilty plea when determining sentence. It said that some discretion should be introduced where the prosecution case was 'overwhelming': in such cases a lower reduction in the sentence might be appropriate.
Source: Reduction in Sentence for a Guilty Plea: Definitive Guideline (Revised 2007), Sentencing Guidelines Council (020 7035 5158)
Links: Guidelines | SGC press release | Telegraph report | Times report
Date: 2007-Jul
A briefing paper said that indeterminate sentences for public protection (introduced under the 2003 Criminal Justice Act), and other risk-based sentences, had become the chief drivers of the prison population?s continuing growth.
Source: Indefinitely Maybe? How the indeterminate sentence for public protection is unjust and unsustainable, Prison Reform Trust (020 7251 5070)
Links: Briefing | PRT press release | Community Care report
Date: 2007-Jul
An official advisory body) began consultation on new guidelines for sentencing cases of assault.
Source: Assault and Other Offences Against the Person, Sentencing Guidelines Council (020 7411 5551)
Links: Consultation document | Letter | SGC press release
Date: 2007-Jul
An article examined how sentencers in the two jurisdictions of England/Wales and Scotland differed in their sentencing decision-making, with a focus on cases on the borderline between prison and a community penalty. Despite differences in legal systems and criminal justice structures, sentencers' decision-making in the two jurisdictions was 'remarkably similar'.
Source: Andrew Millie, Jacqueline Tombs and Mike Hough, 'Borderline sentencing: a comparison of sentencers' decision making in England and Wales, and Scotland', Criminology and Criminal Justice, Volume 7 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2007-Jul
The High Court ruled that the conditions of a prisoner's indeterminate sentence were unrealistic because the prison where he was serving time did not offer any parole courses. (An indeterminate sentence binds a prisoner's release to completion of rehabilitative courses to prove they are no longer a danger to society.)
Source: High Court ruling, 31 July 2007
Links: HLPR press release | Nacro press release | Liberal Democrat press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report | BBC report | Times report
Date: 2007-Jul
An official advisory body began consultation on new guidelines for sentencing in cases of assault or cruelty to children.
Source: Overarching Principles: Assaults on Children and Cruelty to a Child, Sentencing Guidelines Council (020 7411 5551)
Links: Consultation document | Letter | SGC press release
Date: 2007-Jul
A bulletin provided information about trends in the use of community sentences and highlighted best practice. It said that the probation service should be restructured to focus on delivering effective community sentences.
Source: Community Sentences Information Bulletin 1: Adults and Community Sentences, Howard League for Penal Reform (020 7249 7373)
Links: HLPR press release
Date: 2007-Jun
A report highlighted a significant increase in the number of people starting community sentences. Between 1995 and 2005 the numbers increased by nearly 24,000, a rise of 21 per cent. The greater use of community sentences was largely for those offenders who would have previously been given fines.
Source: Enver Solomon and Max Rutherford, Community Sentences Digest, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies/King's College London (020 7848 1688)
Links: Report | CCJS press release
Date: 2007-May
A 'background paper' published by the new Ministry of Justice (established on 9 May 2007) disclosed initiatives designed to reduce prison overcrowding. Sentencing guidelines would be reviewed, and suspended sentence orders limited. Non-dangerous criminals who breached the terms of their release would be jailed for 28 days - rather than automatically serving out the rest of their sentence.
Source: Penal Policy: A background paper, Ministry of Justice (020 7210 8500)
Links: Paper | BBC report | Guardian report | FT report | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-May
The Lord Chief Justice said that mandatory life sentences for murderers were compounding the prison overcrowding crisis. He questioned the need for a mandatory life sentence for murder, and said that murder law reforms would not succeed unless changes were made in the sentencing regime.
Source: Speech by Lord Phillips (Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales), 8 March 2007
Links: Text of speech | PMOS statement | Nacro press release | Guardian report | Telegraph report
Date: 2007-Mar
Researchers examined the use and impact of the community order and the suspended sentence order. In practical terms there had been little innovation with the community order. The suspended sentence order had proved more popular than expected: yet, contrary to official guidance, it tended to have more requirements than the community order.
Source: George Mair, Noel Cross and Stuart Taylor, The Use and Impact of the Community Order and the Suspended Sentence Order, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies/King's College London (020 7848 1688)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Mar
The government published a report summarizing its policy on penalties and sentencing. In particular, it set out where out-of-court penalties and other interventions fitted within its overall approach.
Source: Bringing Offenders to Justice: Criminal justice penalties and sentencing, Home Office (0870 000 1585)
Links: Report
Date: 2007-Jan