Attached is the NAYJ response to "Making Sentencing Clearer".

From the www.crimereduction.gov.uk website:

"This consultation is part of the wider debate associated with the rebalancing of the Criminal Justice System in favour of the law abiding citizen.

To expand and seek views on proposals first made in the paper "Rebalancing the criminal justice system in favour of the law-abiding majority - Cutting crime, reducing re-offending and protecting the public".

There has been significant progress over recent years in developing the legal framework that provides sentencers with a range of sentences that can be tailored to an individual offender. This document seeks views on how to go further and make sentencing clearer for the public and those who come into contact with the criminal justice system, whether they are a victim, witness or defendant.

The Government aims to reduce the amount of custodial sentences for minor offences and increase the amount of fines issued.

The proposals in this document are also designed to ensure that the public are better protected from dangerous offenders and that resources are targeted at the offenders who pose the most significant risks.

The consultation outlines the many sentencing principles that come from the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

The Criminal Justice Act 2003 was designed to achieve a major shift in sentencing policy and has introduced substantial improvements to the sentencing framework. It introduced a distinction between dangerous and non-dangerous offenders as a basis of custodial sentencing so that a greater focus could be placed on those offenders presenting the most danger to the public.

The purpose of this paper is to consult on a range of measures in relation to the way that sentences are expressed and calculated, to consider further improvements to custodial sentences and to consider the best use of probation resources.

The consultation is formatted as a series of question and answers with further discussion being encouraged."