The 2022 study found that respondents who have had contact with the CJS were far more likely to say their experience was positive rather than negative.
Yesterday, the Sentencing Council published one its regular surveys into the public’s understanding of and confidence in the criminal justice system. The survey was commissioned in January this year and undertaken by Savanta and is a follow-up to a similar survey conducted in 2018 and published in 2019. The findings are interesting with a wide range of perceptions from different demographic groups and from people with and without contact with the justice system.
What is the Sentencoing Council?
The Sentencing Council for England and Wales was set up in April 2010 to promote greater transparency and consistency in sentencing, while maintaining the independence of the judiciary. It is an independent, non-departmental public body. They are part of the Ministry of Justice family of arm’s-length bodies.
The primary role of the Council is to issue guidelines on sentencing, which the courts must follow unless it is in the interests of justice not to do so.
The other key role of the Council, and the reason it commissions these surveys, is to promote understanding of, and public confidence in, sentencing and the criminal justice system.
The main findings
The main findings of the report are interesting, the headlines were:
- Providing people with information about sentencing guidelines improves confidence in the fairness of sentencing. In both 2018 and 2022, two thirds of the people surveyed (65%) were aware of the guidelines and 67 per cent claimed that this awareness of the existence of guidelines had a positive impact on their confidence in the fairness of sentencing
- Confidence in the effectiveness and fairness of the criminal justice system (CJS) continues to be mixed and varies according to demographic factors and individuals’ involvement in the system. Overall, 52 per cent of respondents said they were confident that the CJS is effective and 53 per cent said they were confident that it is fair. Adults aged 54 and under and Asian adults were more likely than other groups to have confidence that the system is effective; men and White and Asian adults were more likely than women and Black adults to have confidence that it is fair
- As in 2018, the 2022 study found that respondents who have had contact with the CJS were far more likely to say their experience was positive rather than negative. This was particularly the case for people with experience of Witness Support (64 per cent positive versus 9 per cent negative) and Victim Support (63 per cent positive versus 11 per cent negative). Responses were more mixed in the case of probation services (48 per cent positive versus 17 per cent negative).
- 64 per cent of respondents in 2022 thought sentencing in general was too lenient, compared with 70 per cent in 2018. However, the 2018 research showed that this perception tends to change when the public are presented with scenarios and sentences based on real cases. Again, contact with the CJS appears to affect people’s impressions of sentencing. Those who have had contact as a juror, and those who have had no contact with the CJS, are more likely to consider the sentences to be too lenient. Those who have had contact with the CJS as a defendant, or as support for family or friends are more likely to say that sentencing is too tough. Those who have had contact as a victim were more likely than other groups who have had contact with the CJS to say that the sentencing was both too lenient and too tough, indicating that views become stronger in both directions, and may depend on the circumstances of the crime or sentencing.
- When asked about their understanding of key sentencing terminology, the majority of those surveyed in both 2018 and 2022 reported that they were confident they understood terms such as ‘life sentence’ or ’on licence’. However, the 2018 research revealed that participants were less certain about the meaning of such terminology in group discussions.
Readers who would like to read the report in full can find it here.
