“You be the judge” and learn about sentencing in England and Wales

I was pleased and intrigued to trip across this recent news piece headlined “New website puts the public in the judge’s chair.”  Here are the particulars:

You be the Judge gives people the opportunity to watch six shortened, dramatised cases related to burglary, fraud, assault, and possession of drugs, a knife, and a firearm. Users of the website will listen to the facts of each case as they relate to the offence and the offender and weigh up the aggravating and mitigating factors before deciding what they think is an appropriate sentence. They will then be able to see how their sentence compares with the one handed down by the judge or magistrates.

In making You be the Judge, the Sentencing Council for England and Wales aims to help people understand how sentencing works.  Each of the six cases shows the difficult and complex process judges and magistrates go through to decide a sentence and how they follow sentencing guidelines to take a consistent and transparent approach.

You be the Judge launched at King’s Academy Prospect in Reading on 10 July 2024 with pupils taking part in a lesson delivered by Her Honour Judge Khatun Sapnara, with the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales and Lord Justice William Davis also in attendance. Pupils taking part in the launch event said the website was “very enjoyable and informative”.

Launching the website, Chairman of the Sentencing Council, Lord Justice William Davis, said: “You be the Judge gives the public a unique opportunity to see for themselves how complex the sentencing process is and how sentencing guidelines help judges and magistrates take a consistent approach.  Watching the scenarios, people will be able to see how judges and magistrates balance the seriousness of the offence, the impact on the victim, the circumstances of the offender and the need to protect the public in deciding on a proportionate and appropriate sentence.”

I have had a chance to click through to some of the six scenarios, and I largely share the views of the pupils taking part in the launch that the website was “very enjoyable and informative.”  Though the discussions are built around the sentencing laws of England and Wales, the review of aggravating and mitigating sentencing factors are fairly universal and I could imagine using some of these videos in my teaching here is the US.  (In particular, I could imaging requiring student to try to figure out how these scenarios would likely play out under various federal and state sentencing laws here in the US.)