Ulster Unionist Justice Spokesperson Doug Beattie MC MLA has welcomed the Justice Minister’s commitment to a comprehensive sentencing review, emphasising the need for deeper reform to ensure fairness, transparency and public confidence in the criminal justice system. 

Ulster Unionist Justice Spokesperson Doug Beattie MC MLA said: 

“The Ulster Unionist Party welcomes the sentencing review outlined by the Justice Minister to work alongside the Sentencing Bill that will be published soon. Where I understand the range of areas this review will look at, including sexual crimes and the iniquitous ‘good character references’, it is the wider application of sentence criteria that needs to be scrutinised.

“As the party justice spokesperson, I have been calling for a review for some time, particularly on how sentences are formulated, transparency, and continuity of sentences that gives the public confidence in our judiciary and a better understanding of sentence application. I have been particularly vocal on the need to review, and change, how perpetrators receive sentence credit for extremely late guilty pleas. I do not believe that 20-25% off a sentence for a guilty plea as late as the day the trial starts is fair on the victims or society. I have also called for our judiciary, which must remain independent, to be given support with the establishment of a sentencing council that can give direction and ensure sentences match the crime.

“It is positive that the Minister has listened, not just to me, but to the whole Assembly who voted unanimously in favour of an Ulster Unionist Party motion calling for sentences to be reviewed in June 2025. What we cannot allow with this review is for it to fall into a narrow field looking just at individual case areas. It must instead look at the fundamental changes that are needed to ensure our sentencing guidelines cannot be ignored and that sentences match the crime, which will give society confidence in our criminal justice system.”