Research

The Scottish Sentencing Council conducts a broad range of research activities. Research reports, including reviews of existing academic literature on a topic, focus group studies on specific offences, and other sentencing related work are published on our ‘Research Publications’ page. These reports include work undertaken by the Council’s research team, as well as work commissioned from independent contractors and are grouped by year of publication, with the newest reports first. The Council’s Research Framework, which explains the factors the Council takes into account when deciding its research plans can be found here.

The Council has a statutory duty to undertake both draft (to accompany consultations) and final impact assessments on all guidelines it produces. These are undertaken by the Council’s staff and are published both on the guideline's page and our ‘Impact Assessments’ page. Impact assessments are organised by guideline, with the newest first.

The Council also undertakes informal data gathering and evidence collection through engagement with criminal justice stakeholders and academics. Where appropriate, the Council produces and publishes short feedback reports on these sessions for its reference during the guideline creation process. 

All aspects of the Council’s public consultations, including consultation papers, published responses, and analysis can be found on the Council’s consultation hub.

Research calls

To enable us to undertake research, we commission research both through specific requests for tenders to fulfil identified research needs and through open calls for research proposals that fit the Council’s research priorities. 

Anyone interested in bidding for a project with the Council must first register as a supplier on the Public Contracts Scotland Portal. It is free for suppliers to register and use the portal.