SENTENCING AND CRIMINAL PENALTIES IN SCOTLAND
Sentencing
The independence of the judiciary is a fundamental
principle of the Scottish legal system and Scottish
Ministers attach great importance to judicial discretion in
sentencing. It is for the courts to decide on the most
appropriate sentence, within the limits provided by
Parliament, in any particular case. Each case is unique and
only the court hears all the facts and circumstances
surrounding the offence and the offender. The role of the
Scottish Executive is to ensure that the courts have a
sufficient range of penalties available to them to deal
with the wide variety of cases that come before them.
The Scottish Executive will continue to keep sentencing
policies and arrangements under review and bring forward
proposals for change as appropriate. We recognise that
consistency of the approach to sentencing is important and
continue to look at ways to provide improved information
for sentencers. For example, we publish annual statistics
on sentencing patterns of individual courts. The Judicial
Studies Committee also provides training in sentencing for
new and experienced members of the judiciary.