The Sentencing Council for England and Wales promotes greater consistency in sentencing, whilst maintaining the independence of the judiciary. The Council produces guidelines on sentencing for the judiciary and criminal justice professionals and aims to increase public understanding of sentencing.
Do not retain this copy. Only the online version of a guideline is guaranteed to be up to date.
How offenders are sentenced in England and Wales
For an overview of how offenders are sentenced, take a look at this short video which gives the basics on what kinds of sentence there are and how judges and magistrates decide what sentence to give.
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Latest from the Sentencing Council
New sentencing guidelines for public order offences published
16 October 2019The Sentencing Council has published new guidelines to be used by judges and magistrates in England and Wales when sentencing Read More
Public consultation on sentencing guidelines for firearms offences launched
9 October 2019The Sentencing Council has launched a public consultation on sentencing guidelines to be used by the Crown Court and magistrates’ Read More
New General Guideline and Expanded Explanations come into force on 1 October 2019
1 October 2019The new General guideline for sentencing offences that do not have a specific sentencing guideline, published by the Sentencing Council, Read More