Sign in
☰
People MPsHouse of LordsGovernmentOppositionPartiesCommittees Votes Commons votesLords votesVotes by issueTopicsStats & rankingsParliament in numbers Legislation BillsEarly day motionsPetitions Elections Election resultsConstituenciesWho is my MP? Scotland OverviewMSPsScottish GovernmentVotesBillsMotionsCommitteesConstituencies & regionsElections Search Sign in

Petition · past parliament

Make defendant attendance at sentencing hearings for serious crimes compulsory.

Rejected 13 signatures

What the petition asks

The sentencing hearing allows the judge to hold the defendant accountable for their actions and gives the victims and their families voices. It is an injustice to allow defendants of heinous crimes such as murder to evade this hearing.
The law regarding this needs to be amended to ensure all defendants of serious crimes are held accountable and their attendance to the sentencing hearing should be made mandatory under UK statutory law.

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

You may wish to sign the following petition, which calls for the same action:

Introduce new laws to force offenders to be present in court for sentencing

Timeline

26 Aug 2023 Petition opened for signatures
30 Aug 2023 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 13
Status Rejected
Rejected 30 Aug 2023

Follow this petition

Sign in to get an email when the government responds, a debate is scheduled or held, or the petition closes.

Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.