Sentencing councils need high quality data : peril and potential in the second decade of the Scottish Sentencing Council

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Tata, Cyrus and Gormley, Jay (2026) Sentencing councils need high quality data : peril and potential in the second decade of the Scottish Sentencing Council. Edinburgh Law Review, 30 (2). pp. 206-216. ISSN 1364-9809 (https://doi.org/10.3366/elr.2026.1020)

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Abstract

In light of the Scottish Sentencing Council’s (SSC’s) 10th anniversary, we reflect on the opportunities and dangers presented to the SSC as it moves into its second decade. Here, we focus on just one of the challenges SSC faces: the imperative that SSC has at its disposal high-quality data about everyday patterns of sentencing. We explore what sentencing data is needed and the challenges and opportunities posed by how it may be developed before considering how this could be helpful in boosting public confidence in sentencing. Overall, we show that current administrative data cannot, and, for understandable reasons, was never designed to provide meaningful insights into sentencing practice. Current administrative data struggles to reflect important sentencing considerations that judges and the public recognise (e.g. multiple convictions). As such, Scotland lacks robust data to, for example, inform the public, counter misconceptions, and promote confidence in sentencing. Being unable to counter misconceptions creates perils. In terms of potential, these issues with administrative data for meaningful sentencing analyses were recognised in the 1990’s, and while we hope they can be improved, that will likely be a slow and expensive process. In the meantime, we suggest alternative methods that may be used to provide data that can meaningfully describe sentencing practice.

ORCID iDs

Tata, Cyrus ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1033-478X and Gormley, Jay;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)