The Sentencing Council began consultation on proposed guidance for courts on sexual offences, designed to give more focus to the impact on victims. It said that, as well as physical harm, the psychological and longer-term effects on the victim should be more fully reflected.
Source: Sexual Offences Guideline: Consultation, Sentencing Council
Links: Consultation document | Sentencing Council press release | Victim Support press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Dec
An article examined how the media reported on sentences given to those who had committed serious crimes against children, and how this affected public knowledge and attitudes. A small number of very high-profile crimes accounted for a significant proportion of reporting in this area and often, particularly in the tabloid press, important information regarding sentencing rationale was sidelined in favour of moral condemnation and criticism of the judiciary. Public attitudes were highly critical of sentencing but also confused about the meaning of tariffs.
Source: Mike Berry, Greg Philo, Giuliana Tiripelli, Stevie Docherty, and Colin Macpherson, 'Media coverage and public understanding of sentencing policy in relation to crimes against children', Criminology and Criminal Justice, Volume 12 Number 5
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Nov
A new book examined the operation of the mandatory life sentence for murder. It reported findings from a systematic exploration of public attitudes to sentencing for murder.
Source: Barry Mitchell and Julian Roberts, Exploring the Mandatory Life Sentence for Murder, Hart Publishing
Links: Summary | Nuffield Trust press release
Date: 2012-Nov
The coalition government announced (following consultation) that all adult community sentences would in future have to include some form of punishment – such as a fine, unpaid work, curfew or exclusion from certain areas. It published a study that found no evidence to suggest that increasing the punitive element of community orders would have a detrimental effect on re-offending, and could increase the effectiveness of the community order.
Source: Punishment and Reform: Effective Community Sentences -Government Response, Cm 8469, Ministry of Justice, TSO | Helen Bewley, The Effectiveness of Different Community Order Requirements for Offenders who Received an OASys Assessment, Research Report 17/12, Ministry of Justice
Links: Response | MOJ press release | Research report | T2A press release
Notes: Consultation document
Date: 2012-Oct
The coalition government announced that people who committed 'the most serious' violent or sexual crimes more than once would face automatic life sentences.
Source: Speech by Chris Grayling MP (Lord Chancellor/Secretary of State for Justice), 9 October 2012
Links: BBC report | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Oct
A report examined whether victims of crime were open to the greater use of community sentences, and if so, how their existing limited confidence in such sentences might be enhanced. Being a victim of crime did not generally lead people to become more punitive towards offenders. Overall the attitudes of victims were not significantly different from those of the wider public. Both groups believed strongly in punishment and public protection, but not to the exclusion of rehabilitation and reform.
Source: Out in the Open: What victims really think about community sentencing, Victim Support/Make Justice Work
Links: Report | Victim Support press release
Date: 2012-Sep
The European Court of Human Rights ruled that jailing offenders indefinitely without providing proper access to rehabilitation courses was a breach of human rights. The three men concerned had been given indeterminate imprisonment for public protection (IPPs) in 2005. The coalition government said that it would appeal against the decision – although it had abolished IPPs.
Source: James, Wells and Lee v United Kingdom, European Court of Human Rights
Links: Judgement | Justice Gap press release | PRT press release | BBC report | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Sep
A think-tank report said that tough prison sentences contributed to reducing property crime, especially when targeted at serious and repeat offenders. A one-month increase in the average sentence length for each offence type in a typical year would prevent, in the following year, 4,800 recorded burglaries and 4,700 recorded frauds.
Source: Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay, Acquisitive Crime: Imprisonment, detection and social factors, Civitas
Links: Report | Civitas press release | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Jul
A report summarized key findings from initial analysis of the Intensive Alternatives to Custody (IAC) pilot programme. There was no evidence of a difference between IAC and other court orders in terms of their impact on reoffending.
Source: Sabena Khan and Sarah Hansbury, Initial Analysis of the Impact of the Intensive Alternatives to Custody Pilots on Re-offending Rates, Ministry of Justice
Links: Report | Process evaluation
Notes: The IAC pilot programme programme ran from April 2008 to March 2011 to test the use of intensive community orders in diverting offenders from short-term custodial sentences.
Date: 2012-Jul
The government began consultation on proposals to make sentences in the community 'more credible', and to reform the probation service so that it was more effective in reducing crime – by extending competition and opening up the management of lower-risk offenders to outside providers.
Source: Punishment and Reform: Effective Community Sentences, Cm 8334, Ministry of Justice, TSO | Punishment and Reform: Effective Probation Services, Cm 8334, Ministry of Justice, TSO
Links: Consultation document (Cm 8334) | Consultation document (Cm 8333) | Hansard | MOJ press release | CBI press release | NAPO press release | Victim Support press release | Works for Freedom press release | Telegraph report
Date: 2012-Mar
A study for an official advisory body examined victim/survivor and public attitudes to sentencing for sexual offences.
Source: Carol McNaughton Nicholls, Martin Mitchell, Ian Simpson, Stephen Webster, and Marianne Hester, Attitudes to Sentencing Sexual Offences, Sentencing Council
Links: Report | NatCen press release | Rape Crisis press release | Womensgrid report
Date: 2012-Mar
An article reported a survey of public knowledge and opinion in England and Wales on sentencing for murder. It cast doubt on the assumption that nothing less than a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment was an acceptable replacement for the death penalty.
Source: Barry Mitchell and Julian Roberts, 'Sentencing for murder: exploring public knowledge and public opinion in England and Wales', British Journal of Criminology, Volume 52 Number 1
Links: Abstract
Date: 2012-Jan
An official advisory body published (following consultation) new guidelines on sentencing for drug offences in England and Wales, covering importation, supply, production, permitting premises to be used, and possession. It said that there were likely to be increased sentence lengths for those guilty of large-scale production offences, and reduced sentence lengths for drug 'mules'.
Source: Drug Offences: Definitive Guideline, Sentencing Council
Links: Guidelines | Consultation responses | Sentencing Council press release | DrugScope press release | Labour Party press release | Guardian report
Date: 2012-Jan