United Kingdom Judiciary Speeches

---

You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> United Kingdom Judiciary Speeches >> Lord Burnett of Maldon, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales:: Sentencing: The Judge's Role [2020] UKSpeech OJ6O3 (9 December 2020)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/other/speeches/2020/OJ6O3.html
Cite as: [2020] UKSpeech OJ6O3

---

[New search] [Printable PDF version] [Help]

---

Speech by Lord Burnett of Maldon, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales - Sentencing: The Judge's Role

9 December 2020

The Lord Burnett of Maldon has given a lecture at the Judicial Institute in which he said: "Were the mythical alien to arrive on earth and, I grant you yet more improbably, take an interest in sentencing in England and Wales by reading the newspapers and dipping into the more noisy parts of on-line media, it would soon gain the impression that sentencing had got softer in recent years. It would read about "wet, liberal judges being soft on criminals" and wonder why criminals convicted of serious offences were getting more lenient sentences than they used to. Then our alien visitor might seek some other sources of information, and if possessed of a brow it might become furrowed.

A HTML version of this speech is not available click here or view below the pdf version : Speech