I move:
That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to establish a Sentencing Council and to provide for related matters.
A Sentencing Council already operates in England and Wales, providing sentencing guidelines to the Judiciary. This has ensured that sentences handed out for criminal offences in their courts are consistent and accountable across the board. Concern has arisen over recent years about the perceived inconsistency of sentencing in the courts. Of particular concern and controversy have been some sentences handed out for sexual offences. I have examined the Sentencing Council model in place in England and Wales for some time now. It was the Irish Penal Reform Trust which first brought it to the attention of the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality. They brought over Lord Justice Colman Treacy, who is now the chairman of the Sentencing Council. I believe that this model of consistency and accountability should be introduced in this State.
A key strength of the Sentencing Council is that it involves a range of key stakeholders, such as victim support groups, academics, senior police officers, senior parole officers and the wider public, in the process of establishing sentencing guidelines for the Judiciary. As members of the Judiciary are the majority members of the sentencing council and a senior member of the Judiciary chairs the council, they are still central to the process. However, the sentencing guidelines issued ensure that the Judiciary must stick to the range provided for the category of offence before it. They must also clearly indicate why they have sentenced an offender within that range taking into consideration the impact on the victim and the blameworthiness of the offender. This ensures consistency and accountability across the courts system and across the state.
Similar to the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, the sentencing council I and my party are proposing for the State would develop sentencing guidelines and monitor their use; assess the impact of guidelines on sentencing practice, and possibly also consider the impact of policy and legislative proposals relating to sentencing when requested by the Government; promote awareness amongst the public regarding the realities of sentencing and publish information regarding sentencing practice in the courts system; consider the impact of sentencing decisions on victims; monitor the application of the guidelines to better predict their effect; and play a greater role in promoting understanding of and increasing public confidence in sentencing in the criminal justice system.
I trust that when the Bill finally comes before these Houses the Government can support it, and we can see a much more accountable and consistent approach which still respects the independence of the Judiciary and the separation of powers but gives it a framework which its members will appreciate, considering that they will be at the heart of that process.
