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28 May 2020 / Monica Stevenson
Issue: 7888 / Categories: Features , Procedure & practice , Criminal
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Happy anniversary?

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Monica Stevenson assesses the role of the Sentencing Council, a decade down the line
  • The Sentencing Council’s portfolio: proposed and existing guidelines.
  • Sentencing guidelines: transparency and consistency.
  • The Law Commission’s proposal for a Sentencing Code.

It remains to be seen what the economic fallout from COVID-19 spells for the state of the criminal justice system. Those working in criminal law could not have anticipated the way in which already limited funding might come to be further depleted.

The different elements which work to deliver criminal justice require political attention and money. The crucial assignment of sentencing criminal offenders is no exception. This month marks the ten-year anniversary of the Sentencing Council. A statutory body set up to promote greater transparency and consistency in sentencing decisions, it also has a statutory duty to carry out analysis and research into sentencing.

To mark the first decade of its work, the Council has announced plans to hold a public consultation on ideas for future projects and work. Any such mandate will of course

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Arc Pensions Law—Matthew Swynnerton

Chair of the Association of Pension Lawyers joins as partner

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Ampa Group—Kamal Chauhan

Group names Shakespeare Martineau partner head of Sheffield office

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Blake Morgan—four promotions

Four legal directors promoted to partner across UK offices

NEWS

The abolition of assured shorthold tenancies and section 21 evictions marks the beginning of a ‘brave new world’ for England’s rental sector, writes Daniel Bacon of Seddons GSC

Stephen Gold’s latest Civil Way column rounds up a flurry of procedural and regulatory changes reshaping housing, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and personal injury litigation
Patients are being systematically failed by an NHS complaints regime that is opaque, poorly enforced and often stacked against them, argues Charles Davey of The Barrister Group
A wealthy Russian divorce battle has produced a sharp warning about trying to challenge foreign nuptial agreements in the wrong English court. Writing in NLJ this week, Vanessa Friend and Robert Jackson of Hodge Jones & Allen examine Timokhin v Timokhina, where the High Court enforced Russian judgments arising from a prenuptial agreement despite arguments based on the landmark Radmacher decision
An obscure Victorian tort may be heading for an unexpected revival after a significant Privy Council ruling that could reshape liability for dangerous escapes, according to Richard Buckley, barrister and emeritus professor of law at the University of Reading
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