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
Publication of an assessment of the 2017 update to the Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Guidelines
24 March 2020The Sentencing Council has published an assessment of the impact and implementation of the 2017 update to the Magistrates’ Court Read More
Sentencing Council consults on future direction
10 March 2020The Sentencing Council has launched a public consultation to determine its future direction, balancing its priorities against limited resources. The Read More
What next for the Sentencing Council?
4 March 2020**Please note that this event has been postponed until further notice** April 2020 marks the 10th anniversary of the Sentencing Read More