The Sentencing Code
New Sentencing Code to help prevent unlawful sentences being handed out.
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A new Sentencing Code will reduce the number of unlawful sentences being handed out and save £250 million over ten years.
When they sentence offenders, judges have to contend with more than 1,300 pages of law filled with outdated and inaccessible language. This law is contained in over 65 different Acts of Parliament, and has no coherent structure. This makes it difficult for judges to identify and apply the law they need, which can slow the process of sentencing and lead to mistakes.
The Commission is recommending that anyone convicted from now on should be sentenced under a simplified and modern Sentencing Code. This would mean that judges would no longer need to search back through layers of old law.
This would decrease the number of unlawful sentences handed out, avoid unnecessary appeals and reduce delays in sentencing.