Sentencing

Mrs. Hodgson
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will bring forward proposals to give greater publicity to deterrent sentences handed down by the courts.

Maria Eagle
My right hon. Friend the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice (Mr. Straw) has announced our intention to publish the final outcome of criminal court hearings on the internet. This will be a positive measure to enable local communities to know what is happening in their courts. Of course sentencing in individual cases, and the extent to which that is deterrent, is a matter for the court.