Seán McConville, Professor of Law and Public Policy at Queen Mary, chaired an event recently regarding the consistency and uniformity of sentencing and how public opinion can affect these variables.
More than twenty magistrates from North East London Bench attended the sentencing event held by Queen Mary University of London on Wednesday 17 September. The session was addressed by H H Judge Jonathan Black and by Professor Mike Hough of Birkbeck College. Issues in sentencing theory and practice were outlined and explored in the context of actual cases and sentencing experience. The magistrates contributed to a vigorous discussion that was still going strong when the event had to be concluded. The School of Law at QMUL asked for suggestions for another topic for a similar event and agreed to look into a session on the civil work of magistrates' courts, especially family and child protection issues. If there is sufficient interest this event could be held next Spring.