Research at a Glance: National Justice Survey 2017 - Sentencing Commissions and Guidelines

Most Canadians feel that sentencing guidelines are the best way to ensure a fair sentence and they believe that sentencing would be more consistent with such guidelines. Many Canadians also believe that Canada should consider having a sentencing commission, and that most important activity of this body would be to give judges guidelines for sentencing decisions.

What we also found:

Seven in ten (71%) Canadians indicated that the best approach to sentencing is to provide guidelines while sill allowing for a judge's discretion.

More than eight in ten (83%) thought that guidelines for sentencing would help making sentencing more consistent (only 4% did not believe that this would be the case) and that Canada should consider having set guidelines (81%).