Sentencing Council annual report shows project work progress

Progress on various sentencing projects up to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic is recorded in the annual report of the Scottish Sentencing Council for 2019-20, just published.

Activity during the pandemic is not covered in the report, with the significant disruption experienced only coming  towards the end of the reporting period. Lady Dorrian, Lord Justice Clerk and Chair of the Scottish Sentencing Council, nonetheless extends her gratitude for their contributions to all members, past and present, particularly as their work is voluntary and many have been, and continue to be, directly involved in the wider response to the pandemic.

During the year ending 31 March 2020 the Council embarked on two public consultations, on a draft sentencing process guideline and on a proposed guideline for sentencing young people. Significant progress towards finalising each of these guidelines has been made and each will be submitted to the High Court for approval once consultation responses have been considered and any final revisions made.

The consultations were conducted using a new online consultation platform, which the Council introduced during the year in order to bring efficiencies to the process and improve the experience for respondents.

Work continues on developing the other guidelines which the Council set out in its 2018-21 business plan.

Drafting of a guideline addressing offences of causing death by driving commenced under a dedicated committee. In the next stages of its development it will be subject to testing by sentencers.

The Council announced in summer of 2019 its intention to prioritise the development of guidelines on sexual offences, and began initial research and stakeholder engagement to assist with the preparation of guidelines on rape, sexual assault and indecent images, to be overseen by a new Sexual Offences Committee.

Work on the development of an environmental and wildlife crime guideline was paused in order to allow for proposed changes in penalties for wildlife crimes (now contained in the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020) to bed in and to allow greater priority to be given to guidelines dealing with sexual offences. 

In addition the Council published the findings of a national survey, carried out on its behalf by Ipsos MORI, on public perceptions and understanding of sentencing in Scotland. The first survey of its kind in the Scottish context, it revealed that when presented with detailed case scenarios, members of the public generally choose a sentence which is in line with the actual sentence which would have been imposed in court.

The Council is currently considering what should be included in its next business plan covering 2021-24, in particular the need for a guideline on domestic abuse and the outputs from a mental health roundtable event held last year.

Click here to access the report.