Citizens’ Panel on sentencing

At the end of 2024, the Prison Reform Trust commissioned a Citizens’ Panel on sentencing in England and Wales. Although a public dialogue and various polls and surveys have been undertaken on public awareness of sentencing, this Citizens’ Panel was established to gain depth insights on the overarching system of sentencing.

The Citizens’ Panel engaged panel members in a webinar, two online workshops and an in-person workshop, resulting in 11.5 hours of deliberation in a 10-day period from 30th January to 8th February 2025. Panel members heard from seven expert witnesses and received a range of information including key facts and figures on sentencing and information from Sentencing Council resources.

The Citizens’ Panel was timed to provide insight on public views on sentencing at the time of the Independent Review of Sentencing. The findings in this report are intended to provide recommendations of use to the Independent Review Panel and policy makers who are working to address current significant sentencing challenges. They are drawn from a qualitative thematic analysis of transcripts written up from the panel’s deliberations