Justice Committee publishes survey on public attitudes towards sentencing
27 March 2023
Nearly two in five adults in England and Wales say they get their information on sentencing by courts from online news sources. That’s just one of the findings from a wide-ranging survey published by the House of Commons Justice Committee today on public understanding of and attitudes towards sentencing. The survey forms part of the evidence gathered for a wider inquiry by the Committee, Public opinion and understanding of sentencing.
Other questions posed by the survey revealed that nearly half of those with experience of the criminal justice system in England and Wales say their experience of the system made them more confident in it and the processing of offenders. The range of other topics covered included attitudes to the length of sentences and what people know about how sentence lengths are decided. The full survey results are attached and can be found here.
When the wider inquiry was launched in June 2022, the Chair of the Justice Committee, Sir Bob Neill MP said:
“We want to know how the public accesses information on sentencing and what the public thinks about the current system."
The Committee will publish its report on the overall inquiry into public opinion and understanding of sentencing in due course.
The survey was conducted for the Committee by Savanta, a data, market research and advisory company.
Further information
Image: MoJ