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About us

The Sentencing Council for England and Wales has been set up to promote greater transparency and consistency in sentencing, whilst maintaining the independence of the judiciary. 

The Sentencing Council will have responsibility for developing sentencing guidelines, monitoring their use and assessing and reviewing a wide range of decisions relating to sentencing.  The Council will be required to assess the impact of sentencing practice and promote awareness of sentencing matters; it may also be required to consider the impact of policy and legislative proposals relating to sentencing, when requested by the Government.  It will also play a key role in promoting awareness amongst the public regarding the realities of sentencing and publishing information regarding sentencing practice in Magistrates’ and Crown courts.

In addition to these functions, the Council must consider the impact of sentencing decisions on victims; monitor the application of the guidelines, better to predict the effect of them; and, play a greater part in promoting understanding of, and increasing public confidence in, sentencing and the criminal justice system.

Lord Justice Leveson, a Court of Appeal judge has been appointed as Chairman of the Sentencing Council, with 7 other judicial appointments and 6 non-judicial appointments, all with expertise in the criminal justice system.  All appointments were made by the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice.

The Sentencing Council is an independent body, a non-executive Non-Departmental Public Body of the Ministry of Justice and replaces the Sentencing Guidelines Council and the Sentencing Advisory Panel.