28/07/2022
Police Oracle
Another in a long line of historic events will take place at the Old Bailey today.
The Judge passing sentence on Ben Oliver (who pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his grandfather in south London) will, probably, be filmed and the result broadcast on TV and made available online. Judge Sarah Munro QC will decide whether to permit broadcasting of her sentencing remarks this morning and, if she does, this will be the first case when this will happen. The remarks recorded will be hosted by Sky News on a dedicated YouTube channel. Footage will be subject to the usual reporting restrictions and there will be a 10 second delay when broadcasting live to avoid any breach of restrictions or errors.
Only the judge will be filmed during any sentencing that is broadcast to protect the privacy of victims, witnesses and jurors. Dame Vera Baird, the Victims’ Commissioner, is broadly supporting saying that if we want to instil victim confidence in our justice system, transparency is key. She says that allowing cameras into courts to film sentencing remarks is a first step and an important milestone in achieving this.
Dame Vera cautions that judges will need to explain the reasoning behind their sentencing decision in a way that is comprehensible to the public – and not just legal professionals. She reminds us that sentencing decisions are complex and take into account various factors that we cannot expect victims to be familiar with.
Dame Vera highlights how this step is a big difference from usual court reporting when, typically, only the headline details of a sentence, such as the length of sentence, are communicated to the public. She points out that there is rarely any mention of the detail behind a sentencing decision such as the discounts from serving time on remand or an early guilty plea to which a defendant is entitled. The result is that victims are often caught off-guard by the impending release of the defendant, who they assumed would be serving longer behind bars. This can crush a victim’s sense of justice and illusions of safety. It’s important that this is effectively mitigated – with responsible, clear and accessible communications from the judiciary.
The story so far
Previously, proceedings were only broadcast from certain Court of Appeal cases. The contract has now been extended to the Crown Court and Sky, BBC, ITN and the Press Association are all able to apply to film and broadcast sentencing remarks, with the individual judge on a specific case deciding whether to grant the request.
Unsurprisingly, the reform has been welcomed by national broadcasters who were involved in a successful pilot that allowed not-for-broadcast sentencing remarks to be filmed in eight Crown Court sites. They cite the main benefits as allowing the public to see justice being done and improving audiences’ understanding of the criminal justice system, in particular the sentencing process. Of course, they are also expecting big audiences for high profile cases with the Judge’s sentencing remarks on camera a much more powerful way to sign off a news segment.