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The authors of two new reports published by the Scottish Sentencing Council on sentencing in sexual offence cases involving rape and sexual assault, provide a summary of the reports and discusses their findings.  The literature reviews, were carried out by Dr Rachel McPherson, Mr Nicholas Burgess, Dr Jay Gormley and Professor Cyrus Tata of the School of Law at the University of Glasgow and the Centre for Law, Crime and Justice at the University of Strathclyde.

This is a blog post from Dr. Ian D. Marder (Maynooth University) and Dr. Eoin Guilfoyle (University of Bristol) which was originally written for the Irish Penal Reform Trust. Amongst other things it discusses how the Scottish Sentencing Council's principles and purposes of sentencing guideline could help in the development of a similar guideline in Ireland.

As part of its commitment to engage with and understand the broader justice system, the Council was delighted to be able to return to visiting justice partners with a visit to HMP Greenock and the Risk Management Authority at the start of December. The Council was able to meet with Scottish Prison Service staff and prisoners while touring the prison, and was given insight into the challenges facing the SPS and the RMA by senior leaders from both organisations.

Many defendants have mental health issues and sentencing such individuals represents one of the most challenging areas of sentencing. A court must determine whether, and to what extent, the offender's mental health should be considered at sentencing. 

Although media reports often seek to do so, making direct comparisons between the two jurisdictions of Scotland, and England and Wales is fraught with difficulty.