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New judicial guidance published on sentencing children, informed by Professor Hollingsworth’s research

27 September 2021

New judicial guidance published on sentencing children, informed by Professor Hollingsworth’s research

Professor Kathryn Hollingsworth’s research on sentencing children has resulted in important changes to the revised Crown Court Compendium (Part II), published in August 2021.

The Compendium, Part II of which provides guidance for Crown Court judges on sentencing, now includes revised ‘example’ sentencing remarks based on textual suggestions made by Kathryn and her colleagues (barrister Kate Aubrey Johnson and speech and language consultant Clare Parkinson). It also includes a new Appendix which is underpinned by the research in Kathryn’s award-winning article written with Professor Helen Stalford of Liverpool University on ‘Judgments for Children’, and which sets out specific guidance to judges on how best to deliver sentences to children. These revisions will help judges in how they write and communicate sentences to children which in turn will help to increase children’s understanding and participation in the sentencing process and better protect their access to justice and rights under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Kathryn’s research also demonstrates that if the approach in the Appendix is adopted by judges, children will experience the justice process as fairer and more legitimate.