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.
Rape sentencing guideline (290kb)
This guideline applies to all offenders who are sentenced on or after 03 March 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.
Rape of a young child sentencing guideline impact assessment (782kb)
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.
Rape sentencing guideline impact assessment (936kb)
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.
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.