Response to the Sentencing Council’s consultation: What next for the Sentencing Council?

“The Council’s next ten years will be defined by how successfully it tackles the three concerning developments that are outlined at the start of this response: increasing severity in sentencing, disparities in sentencing outcomes, and the lack of regard for proportionality and impact in sentencing guidance. The Howard League urges the Council to pause its programme of guideline development and concentrate its resources on a wholesale review and refresh of its extant guidance to address these issues. What is required is a fundamental overhaul of the structure and content of the guidance, but conducted effectively this approach has the capacity to transform sentencing in England and Wales. ”

Read the full response