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.
The sentencing of offences involving modern slavery and human trafficking in Scotland - Literature review (1mb)
Submitted to the Scottish Sentencing Council in March 2025; Final version submitted June 2025; Originally published September 2025; Addendum added and republished February 2026; Authors: Dr Rachel McPherson and Dr Jay Gormley, School of Law, University of Glasgow. With thanks to Meera Mohankrishnan for her research assistance.
Public Perceptions of Sentencing: 2025 survey report (1mb)
The Scottish Sentencing Council has published a new report exploring public knowledge and attitudes towards sentencing in Scotland. The report was carried out by the independent research organisation, Ipsos Scotland. This report follows an earlier survey carried out by Ipsos for the Council in 2019. The 2019 report is available on the Council’s website.
Public Attitudes To Sentences For Environmental And Wildlife Offences (645kb)
A research report by Dr Jay Gormley, School of Law, University of Glasgow, and Professor Cyrus Tata, University of Strathclyde.
Offences of rape - public consultation analysis (751kb)
Independent analysis of responses to the Scottish Sentencing Council’s public consultation on the draft sentencing guidelines for rape offences, authored by Alison Platts and Dawn Griesbach.
2nd Scottish Sentencing Research Symposium Report (610kb)
Hosted by the Scottish Sentencing Council, the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, and the Sentencing Academy on 20 May 2025 at Edinburgh Law School, University of Edinburgh