Exploring Unwarranted Disparities in Sentencing in Scotland

The report documents research commissioned to examine unwarranted sentencing disparities and how they can be reduced. It highlights the need to develop new sources of in-depth and meaningful data on sentencing patterns. The authors found that high quality data is essential to : the promotion of consistency in sentencing; the informed development of sentencing policy; and efforts to inform public knowledge and awareness of (and so confidence in) sentencing and the judiciary.