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Ask for a Crown Court sentence to be reviewed

You can ask for someone’s Crown Court sentence to be reviewed if you think it’s too low. This is called the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme.

The Attorney General’s Office can review sentences given by the Crown Court in England and Wales if they’re asked to.

Only certain types of case can be reviewed, such as:

  • murder
  • manslaughter
  • rape and sexual offences
  • robbery
  • child sex crimes and child cruelty
  • drug distribution
  • terror-related offences

Anyone can ask for a sentence to be reviewed. You do not have to be involved in the case or have legal knowledge.

How to get a sentence reviewed

Use the online service to send a request to the Attorney General’s Office. You’ll need to provide the:

  • name of the offender
  • date they were sentenced
  • Crown Court they were sentenced at

The Attorney General’s Office will review it and decide whether to send it to the Court of Appeal, who can make a decision about the sentence.

The deadline to send your request is 11:59pm on the 28th day after the sentencing. Bank holidays and weekends are included in the 28 days.

Submit your request as early as possible before the 28th day so that the Attorney General’s Office has enough time to review it. Complex requests take longer to review.

Only one person needs to ask for a sentence to be reviewed. You can check which cases are being considered on the first page of the online service. Do not request a review if the case is already being considered.

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The Court of Appeal

The Court of Appeal may decide that the sentence:

  • should stay the same
  • is unreasonably low (called ‘unduly lenient’) and may increase it
  • refuse to hear the case

The Court of Appeal cannot look at new evidence related to the case or change the offence that the defendant is sentenced for.

Even if a case is passed on to the Court of Appeal it may not change the sentence.

Get the outcome of a sentence review

You can check the outcome of a sentence review request.

Contact the Attorney General’s Office

Attorney General’s Office
Telephone: 020 7271 2492
Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm
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