Reporting Sentencing Remarks

Why sentencing remarks matter to journalists

When a judge sentences a defendant, they are required to explain their reasoning in open court: the seriousness of the offence, the aggravating and mitigating factors, the harm caused, and how the sentence was calculated under the Sentencing Act 2020 and the relevant Sentencing Council guideline. This explanation — the sentencing remarks — is a public document in substance even where no written transcript is published.

The Judicial College actively encourages judges to deliver sentencing remarks in plain, accessible language precisely because they are heard by victims, defendants, and the public, not just lawyers. For a court reporter, this makes them an unusually reliable and quotable narrative source — the words are the judge's own, delivered in public, and carry the authority of the court.

Sentencing remarks routinely contain the most newsworthy line in a court story: the judge's characterisation of the offence, a direct address to the defendant, or a comment on wider public interest issues raised by the case. Accurate, careful quotation is what separates responsible court reporting from a bare recitation of the sentence.

Where sentencing remarks are published — and where they are not

Judiciary.uk maintains a sentencing remarks archive at judiciary.uk/publications/sentencing-remarks, where full remarks are published, usually for cases that have already attracted significant media coverage. This is a genuinely useful primary source: it lets you check your own note against the judge's exact words, and lets other outlets quote accurately even if they were not in court.

• High-profile Crown Court cases: Most likely to be published on judiciary.uk, sometimes within days of sentencing. Search by defendant name or case reference.
• Routine Crown Court and magistrates court cases: Almost never formally published. Your contemporaneous note taken in the public gallery is your primary and often only source.
• Cases with a pending, linked matter: Publication of full remarks may be delayed or the remarks themselves may be withheld from the archive pending resolution of the linked proceedings.

The Sentencing Council (sentencingcouncil.org.uk) does not publish individual sentencing remarks, but its guidelines are essential background — they let you check whether a sentence sits within, below, or above the guideline range, which is often the real story.

How to quote sentencing remarks accurately

• ›Quote directly from your contemporaneous note wherever possible — do not reconstruct a quote from memory after leaving court.
• ›Where you paraphrase, make it clear in your copy that this is a summary, not a direct quotation, and do not put paraphrased words inside quotation marks.
• ›Distinguish the judge's own words from submissions made by prosecution or defence counsel that the judge merely referred to — attributing a barrister's argument to the judge is a common and serious accuracy error.
• ›If you later obtain the published or transcribed version, check your published copy against it and correct any discrepancy promptly.
• ›Attribute clearly: "the judge, [name], told the defendant..." rather than an unattributed line that could be read as your own editorial voice.

IPSO's Editors' Code Clause 1 (Accuracy) requires publications to take care not to publish inaccurate or misleading material, and to distinguish clearly between comment, conjecture, and fact. A misquoted sentencing remark is one of the more common and avoidable Clause 1 risks in court reporting.

Anonymisation and redaction in published remarks

Where judiciary.uk publishes sentencing remarks, names and identifying details are redacted if an automatic or court-ordered restriction is in force — most commonly lifetime anonymity for a sexual offence complainant, or a s.45 Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 order protecting the identity of someone under 18.

A redaction in the published text is a signal, not an invitation. If a name has been withheld because a restriction is still active, you must not identify that person using information from other sources — your own notes, a press bundle, or a social media search. The restriction applies to the underlying fact, not just to the judiciary's published document.

Section 4(2) postponement orders and sentencing remarks

Sentencing remarks frequently touch on matters beyond the immediate sentence — a co-defendant awaiting a separate trial, a linked confiscation hearing yet to be heard, or an ongoing investigation into other individuals. Where reporting the remarks in full would create a substantial risk of prejudice to those linked proceedings, the court can make a s.4(2) Contempt of Court Act 1981 order postponing publication of some or all of the report until a specified event, such as the conclusion of the related trial.

The order must state its scope and the event that triggers when it lifts, and the court must give reasons. If you are reporting a multi-defendant case, or a case where the judge's remarks refer to other pending matters, always ask the court officer or clerk before publication whether a s.4(2) order is in force — this single check avoids the majority of postponement-related contempt risk.

See our contempt and active proceedings guide for the wider strict liability framework that underpins postponement orders.

Sentencing remarks reporting checklist

• I have a contemporaneous note of the judge's exact words, not a reconstruction from memory.
• I have checked whether a s.4(2) postponement order applies before publishing, especially in multi-defendant or linked cases.
• I have not attributed prosecution or defence submissions to the judge.
• I have preserved any redaction present in the published or officially available version of the remarks.
• My copy clearly distinguishes direct quotation from paraphrase.
• I have checked the sentence against the applicable Sentencing Council guideline where relevant to the story.

Related guides

Primary sources

• Judiciary.uk — Sentencing Remarks archive
• Sentencing Council
• Sentencing Act 2020 — legislation.gov.uk
• Contempt of Court Act 1981, s.4 — legislation.gov.uk
• IPSO Editors' Code of Practice

Frequently asked questions