During the evidence session held in Parliament Buildings, chair of the Bar Council Denise Kiley KC and criminal barrister Suzanne Gallagher BL updated committee members on the Bar’s observations and opinions on several elements of the draft legislation.

At the end of the oral evidence session, Ms Kiley and Ms Gallagher were joined by Bar Library chief executive David Mulholland who assisted in answering questions from MLAs.

Central to the submission provided by the Bar was that there is little or no evidence to suggest that codifying sentencing practices would lead to greater public knowledge of and confidence in sentencing provisions.

Rather, the Bar called for a concerted effort on advancing public legal education, including the progression of the appropriate use of broadcasting in our courts.

Additionally, the Bar voiced its support for the draft legislation introducing aggravators for withholding information on the whereabouts of a body, a so-called “Charlotte’s Law”.

The Criminal Justice (Sentencing etc) Bill was introduced by justice minister Naomi Long in March tracing its roots to a review of policy issues in relation to sentencing announced by former justice minister Claire Sugden in 2016.

It proposes to put the purposes and principles of sentencing into legislation for adult offenders and give statutory weight to sentencing guidance. There are also changes to suspended sentences with courts being able to attach community requirements to suspended sentences such as carrying out unpaid work.