Bladed Article and Offensive Weapon etc. Offences Guidelines

Overview

What is the Council consulting about?

In 2018 the following three guidelines for bladed article and offensive weapon offences were published by the Sentencing Council:

• Having a bladed article or offensive weapon in a public place (formerly possession of a bladed article or offensive weapon in a public place)
• Threatening with a bladed article or offensive weapon in a public place
• Bladed articles and offensive weapons – children and young people

In 2024 the Council published an evaluation of those guidelines. The evaluation of the guidelines did not reveal any major areas of concern however, it did show that when using the ‘Having a bladed article or offensive weapon in a public place’ guideline, a small number of sentencers incorrectly categorised the culpability of the offences before them.

The Council therefore undertook to revise this guideline to make it clearer for sentencers. The Council also considered that this would present a useful opportunity to make some other minor amendments to the existing guidelines and to prepare new guidelines to cover existing offences for which there is currently no guideline, and a guideline to cover a new offence that has not yet commenced.   

In deciding upon which offences to include in the project the Council considered the volumes of offending (where the relevant offence was in force), as well as the maximum penalties available. The Council concluded that it would be beneficial to include the following offences in the scope of a new project:

• Threatening with an offensive weapon, bladed article or corrosive substance in a private place;
• Possession of a prohibited offensive weapon in private;
• Possession of dangerous knives; and
• Possessing an article with a blade or point or an offensive weapon with intent to use unlawful violence etc.