McDowell asks group to study sentencing

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell has asked his new expert review group on criminal law to examine the way judges sentence offenders.

Mr McDowell told Cabinet yesterday he had requested the Balance in the Criminal Law Review Group to look at sentencing norms and the case for obliging judges to give reasons for the sentences they hand down.

He updated his Government colleagues on the work of the group in the wake of a call by the Director of Public Prosecutions for judges to be more open in explaining their sentencing decisions to a public he said was often “bewildered” by their actions.