Hare Coursing Sentencing Guideline

Overview

What is the Sentencing Council?

The Sentencing Council is the independent body responsible for developing sentencing guidelines which courts in England and Wales must follow when passing a sentence. The Council consults on its proposed guidelines before they come into force and on any proposed changes to existing guidelines.

What is this consultation about?

This consultation seeks views on a proposed sentencing guideline [LINK] for various offences related to hare coursing, namely:

• section 1 of the Night Poaching Act 1828 (Taking or destroying game by night)
• section 30 of the Game Act 1831 (Trespass in the daytime in search of game)
• section 63 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (Trespass with intent to search for or to pursue hares with dogs etc)
• section 64 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (Being equipped for searching for or pursuing hares with dogs etc)

The proposed guideline does not apply to hare coursing or hunting offences committed under sections 1 or 5 of the Hunting Act 2004.

Why hare coursing offences?

The maximum penalties for offences committed under section 1 of the Night Poaching Act 1828 and section 30 of the Game Act 1831 were increased from a fine to six months’ custody under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. The 2022 Act also introduced the latter two offences mentioned above (Trespass with intent to search for or to pursue hares with dogs and Being equipped for searching for or pursuing hares with dogs etc).

Beyond the harm done to animals, hare coursing activities often involve aggressive and threatening behaviour towards local residents, some of whom may live in isolated locations. Criminal damage is also very common. The increase in maximum penalties was a response to a longstanding view that a fine was not a sufficient deterrent to those who committed hare coursing offences. The courts now have a fuller suite of sentencing powers, including new ancillary orders, to deal with hare coursing offences. In recent years, Operation Galileo has seen police forces co-operate across the country to share intelligence and tackle this offending.

As there are no existing sentencing guidelines for these offences, the Council believes it would be helpful to the courts to provide consistency of approach in sentencing them.

Broader wildlife offences

The Council is aware of various calls for sentencing guidelines on wildlife offences in general, and has considered carefully whether to draft such guidelines. The Council notes the Law Commission’s view, set out in its 2015 report on wildlife offences (Law Com 362) that “the current legislation governing the control, exploitation, welfare and conservation of wild animals and plants in England and Wales has become unnecessarily complex and inconsistent…The natural environment is a complex system and the law concerning it needs to apply in a range of different situations and reflect a range of (potentially competing) interests. In many cases, however, there appears to be little obvious rationale for the existing complexity”.

The Law Commission’s recommendation to consolidate this body of criminal law has not been taken up. Indeed, further standalone pieces of legislation have been added in recent years, such as the Ivory Act 2018, the Glue Traps (Offences) Act 2022, and the Shark Fins Act 2023. Meanwhile, whilst the maximum penalty for cruelty towards domestic animals has been increased to five years, the maximum penalty for cruelty towards wild animals under the Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996 remains at six months.

The Council has concluded that this is not a promising landscape for the production of sentencing guidelines. Wildlife offences are too disparate, with a fine being the maximum penalty available in many cases, and very low volumes seen by the courts. The Court of Appeal has provided clear guidance over the years on the sorts of sentence levels appropriate in cases of import and export of animals and animal products, and the Council believes this is sufficient to assist the courts when they do sentence offenders in such cases.

Responding to the consultation

Through this consultation process, the Council is seeking views on:

• the principal factors that make any of the offences included within the draft guidelines       more or less serious
• the additional factors that should influence the sentence
• the types and lengths of sentence that should be passed, and
• whether there are any issues relating to disparity of sentencing and/or broader matters relating to equality and diversity that the guidelines could and should address.

We would like to hear from anyone who uses sentencing guidelines in their work or who has an interest in sentencing. We would also like to hear from individuals and organisations representing anyone who could be affected by the proposals including:

• victims and their families
• defendants and their families
• those under probation supervision or youth offending teams/supervision
• those with protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

In the following sections the proposals are outlined in detail and you will be asked to give your views. You can give your views by answering some or all of the questions below either by email to consultation@sentencingcouncil.gov.uk or by using the online consultation at https://consult.justice.gov.uk/. A summary of the consultation questions can be found at Annex A.

What else is happening as part of the consultation process?

This is a 12 week public consultation. The Council has already drawn on the expertise of the Police, rural magistrates and others involved in investigating, prosecuting and sentencing hare coursing cases in preparing the draft guidelines. As part of the consultation process, the Council is now planning on engaging further with magistrates and others with an interest to explore some of the issues raised in this paper in more depth. Once the results of the consultation have been considered, the updated guidelines will be published and used by all courts.

Applicability of guidelines

When issued as definitive guidelines following consultation the guideline will apply only to offenders aged 18 and older. General principles to be considered in the sentencing of children and young people are set out in the Sentencing Council’s definitive guideline, Sentencing children and young people.