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 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.
