Introduction

The rise in the number of young people in custody in England and Wales is well documented (Bateman, 2005; Morgan and Newburn, 2007) and it is also recognised that trends in sentencing are one of the key determinants of the custodial population (YJB, 2005). In considering the sentencing of young people there are three key areas of concern, namely: the level of custodial sentencing; the length and nature of custodial sentences (in particular, the new ‘public protection sentences’ introduced by the 2003 Criminal Justice Act [CJA]); and the extent of consistency or inconsistency in sentencers’ decision making.

Given the range of factors contributing to the rise in the custodial population (Morgan, this volume) there is unlikely to be any single ‘solution’. From their study of sentencing decisions in relation to adult offenders, however, Millie et al state that ‘our findings suggest that the core of any strategy to reduce reliance on imprisonment … will be concerned directly with sentencing decisions, and in particular the decisions whether to imprison and how long to imprison’ (2007, p 248). Clearly, neither the government nor youth justice practitioners can control sentencing trends, but they can, and do, try to influence them.

Current trends in sentencing policy and practice

The broad sweep of government sentencing policy has recently attracted some sharp criticism, including concerns expressed by the Lord Chief Justice about the ‘politicisation of sentencing’ (Judiciary of England and Wales, 2008) and an explicit statement from the House of Commons Justice Committee that the 2003 CJA had ‘fallen short’ of its aim to ‘provide a coherent overall structure to sentencing in England and Wales’ (2008, para 255). With this context in mind, this section looks at some of the specific concerns about sentencing in relation to children and young people.

Purpose(s) of sentencing

Recent legislation has attempted to clarify the purpose of sentencing with regard to young people. The 2008 Criminal Justice and Immigration Act (CJIA) states that courts must have regard to the principal aim of the youth justice system, which is to prevent offending and reoffending (s 9[2][a]).