Sentencing Guidelines

BBC Radio 4's Law In Action Tuesday 6 November 1600 GMT On Radio 4 and online

Judges are frequently criticised in the press for being too lenient or being out of touch, but they do not determine sentencing policy.

That is the job of a body called the Sentencing Guidelines Council, which is advised by a panel of senior legal figures and academics.

Law in Action was granted unprecedented access to watch the panel at work and also spoke exclusively to Sir Igor Judge, head of Criminal Justice in England & Wales, and the deputy chairman of the Sentencing Guidelines Council.

He describes the problems of sentencing for the new offence of corporate manslaughter introduced earlier this year; explains how prison overcrowding could mean judges cut the punitive element of sentences; and comes out strongly against the idea of a mandatory national DNA database.

There is a common perception that sentences have generally got softer.

But is this correct?

Professor Andrew Ashworth of All Souls College, Oxford considers four different offences and how sentences for them have changed over the past 60 years.

He finds that there has been very little variation - except for the ending of the death penalty for murder.

Law in Action spoke to:

• Andrew Ashworth, professor of law at All Souls College, Oxford
• District Judge Howard Riddell
• Judge Philip Clegg
• Ann Fuller, magistrate
• David Mallon, educationalist
• Sir Igor Judge, head of Criminal Justice in England & Wales, and deputy chairman of the SGC

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Collaborative Law

Could divorce be made less painful?

Divorce can be a painful process.

But warring couples could avoid some of that pain by signing up to a new method of conflict resolution, imported from the US.

Called "collaborative law", it is supposed to be much more civilised than our current system.

Reporter Jim Frank finds out more.