Remit
The Committee supports the Council in its communications activity, focusing in particular on its statutory objective to “promote greater awareness and understanding of sentencing policy and practice”.
Strategy
The Committee will assist the Council in delivering the Communications Strategy, in particular by:
- building the Council’s public profile
- identifying and overseeing promotional and public education projects and events
- identifying areas for collaboration with others, including contribution to public education projects, and participating in / attending conferences and events
- overseeing the development of promotional and informational materials including further website development.
Consideration will be given to the following key areas:
- developing the website and other relevant material as accessible resources
- raising awareness of sentencing policy and practice
- developing a comprehensive strategy for communications around guidelines
- engaging with the judiciary, practitioners, media, justice delivery organisations, stakeholders, and the wider public
- preparing key messages on Council business
- evaluating Council engagement and communications work
- providing helpful and accurate sentencing information on request and in collaboration with relevant organisations.
In preparing the Communications Strategy, the Committee will take due account of the needs of different audiences and tailor relevant communications accordingly.
Minutes will be published on the website in accordance with the Council's Standing Orders.
Current members
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Sheriff Norman McFadyen
Committee Chair
Sheriff McFadyen is the Scottish Sentencing Council's sheriff member.
Sheriff Norman McFadyen was appointed as a Sheriff in South Strathclyde, Dumfries, and Galloway, Scotland in 2010 and transferred to Lothian and Borders at Edinburgh in 2015. He has extensive experience of criminal trials and sentencing. He studied law at the University of Glasgow and joined the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service as an apprentice solicitor in 1976, qualifying in 1978 and then undertaking a number of prosecution roles, rising to be Crown Agent and Chief Executive, the permanent head of the prosecution service in Scotland, in 2004.
Sheriff McFadyen is a board member of the International Society for Reform of Criminal Law and was a member of the reference group for the Criminal Justice System Objectives Review and the policy groups for the Civil Courts Review, chaired by the Rt Hon Lord Gill and, more recently, the Post-Corroboration Safeguards Review, chaired by the Rt Hon Lord Bonomy. He has lectured to a wide variety of audiences on criminal justice themes, including sentencing, nationally and internationally.
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Sue Moody
Committee member
Sue is the Scottish Sentencing Council's victims expert member.
Sue Moody has worked with and for survivors of crime for more than 30 years. She was the first Director of Victim Support Scotland and also the first Director of Victim Information and Advice (part of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service). As senior lecturer in the Law Faculty at Dundee University she undertook research on crime victims. Her most recent post before retirement in March 2015 was with the Survivor Scotland team at the Scottish Government, supporting survivors of abuse in care as children.
Sue is currently a board member of the Howard League Scotland. She also chairs a new charitable trust, McManus 168, promoting the work of the McManus Art Gallery and Museum in Dundee.
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Krista Johnston
Committee member
Krista is the Scottish Sentencing Council's solicitor member
Krista Johnston is a graduate of law from Edinburgh University. She joined More and Co, Dunfermline, in 1992, specialising in criminal defence work. Along with others she founded the firm of Martin, Johnston and Socha in 1998. Her firm continues to concentrate exclusively on criminal defence work and has expanded to include offices in Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and Alloa.
In 2007 Krista became a solicitor advocate in the field of crime and has since enjoyed instruction from a number of solicitor firms across Scotland. She appears regularly in the High Court conducting criminal trials, and also appears in the appellate courts.
Krista is a member of the Society of Solicitor Advocates and Fortis Chambers.
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Dr Hannah Graham
Committee member
Dr Hannah Graham will hold office until December 2024
Dr Hannah Graham is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR) at the University of Stirling. Dr Graham has previously worked as a criminologist at the University of Tasmania, Australia.
Throughout her career as a criminologist, she has conducted research and worked with a range of people and agencies, including police, procurators fiscal, judiciary, lawyers, court staff, prison staff, justice social work and community justice, charities, people with lived experience of the criminal justice system, and justice policymakers.
Dr Graham is the author or editor of four books, published internationally, on rehabilitation, criminal justice work, and innovative approaches to justice. She is an Editor of the European Journal of Probation, and a member of the Community Sanctions and Measures Working Group in the European Society of Criminology.
Dr Graham is a member of the national Council for the Scottish Association for the Study of Offending (SASO).
In 2017-2018, Dr Graham was part of a team of researchers to conduct an independent review of the Aberdeen Problem Solving Approach, in collaboration with Aberdeen Sheriff Court and community justice partners. This approach specialises in working with people with complex needs and prolific offence histories to offer rehabilitative opportunities and address the underlying causes of their offending. In 2007, she conducted an independent evaluation of a mental health court diversion initiative for the Magistrates Court and Forensic Mental Health Services in Tasmania, Australia.
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Communications Committee Meeting 6
Wednesday 20 November 2019
The sixth meeting of the Communications Committee will take place on Wednesday 20 November, 2019 at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
Agenda and Minutes
Agenda
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Communications Committee Meeting 5
Thursday 21 March 2019
The fifth meeting of the Communications Committee took place on 21 March, 2019 at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
Agenda and Minutes
Agenda
Draft minutes
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Communications Committee Meeting 4
Monday 03 September 2018
The fourth meeting of the Communications Committee took place on 3 September, 2018 at Parliament House, Edinburgh.
Agenda and Minutes
Agenda
Minutes
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Communications Committee Meeting 3
Monday 19 February 2018
The third meeting of the Communications Committee will take place on 21 February, 2018 at Parliament House, Edinburgh.
Agenda and Minutes
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Communications Committee Meeting 2
Thursday 14 September 2017
The second meeting of the Communications Committee took place on 14 September, 2017 at Parliament House, Edinburgh.
Agenda and Minutes
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Communications Committee Meeting 1
Thursday 13 October 2016
The first meeting of the Communications Committee took place on 13 October, 2016 at Parliament House, Edinburgh.
Agenda and Minutes
