Publications
All information published by the Council, including the Council's business plans and annual reports, can be accessed on this page.
Further details about the classes of information published by the Council, and how to access that information, are available in the Guide to information published by the Scottish Sentencing Council.
Revised rape of a young child sentencing guideline (266kb)
This guideline applies to all offenders who are sentenced on or after 01 September 2026, and who have been convicted of one of the following offences:
• an offence under section 18 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 (rape of a young child)
• the common law offence of rape where the victim is a young child (a child under the age of 13)
Revised rape sentencing guideline (266kb)
This guideline applies to all offenders who are sentenced on or after 01 September 2026, and who have been convicted of one of the following offences:
• an offence under section 1 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009 (rape)
• the common law offence of rape.
Revised rape sentencing guidelines impact assessment (315kb)
This document fulfils the Scottish Sentencing Council’s statutory duty to provide an assessment of the costs and benefits to which the implementation of a guideline is likely to give rise, and an assessment of the likely impact of the guideline on the criminal justice system in general.
Sentencing fact file (514kb)
Sentencing fact file
Draft revised rape sentencing guideline (255kb)
The Council is proposing limited revisions to the rape guideline to align it with forthcoming amendments under the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Act 2025 in relation to how non-harassment orders operate.