The Deputy Head of Criminal Justice, Lord Justice Thomas, has responded to the statistics released today by the Attorney General’s office. These statistics report the number of cases where the Attorney General asked the Court of Appeal to decide whether a sentence imposed by the Crown Court was unduly lenient.
Lord Justice Thomas said:
“These annual statistics show that the number of cases, where the Attorney or Solicitor General considers that a sentence may be unduly lenient, continues to remain low. Sentencing is often a complex process in which judges must have regard to the individual and unique facts of each case as well as a mass of constantly changing legislation, guidance and precedent. In 2010 the sentences of just 60 offenders were increased because the Court of Appeal found them to be unduly lenient. Figures from the Ministry of Justice tell us that, in that year, around 97,700 cases were received for trial in the Crown Court and that some 100,100 trial cases were disposed of and 174,400 defendants were dealt with. Clearly, the number of cases referred through the important powers of the Attorney and Solicitor General is a tiny minority.
“It is important that the power to refer these cases exists. It provides an opportunity for certain sentences to be reviewed and the Court of Appeal can give guidance to judges for future cases where similar issues arise.”
