Intimidatory Offences and Domestic abuse guidelines consultation

Overview

Which offences are covered by the consultation?

• Harassment (including the racially or religiously aggravated form of this offence)
• Stalking (including the racially or religiously aggravated form of this offence)
• Controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship
• Disclosing private sexual images
• Threats to kill

The first section of the consultation contains revised guidance on the sentencing of offences committed within a domestic abuse context. Given the crossover between the types of offences contained within this draft guideline, and some of the themes running through the revised domestic abuse guidance, it was decided to consult jointly on both guidelines. 

We welcome all responses to the consultation, including those limited to particular sections. So if, for example, your interest is only in the revised domestic abuse guidance, you may wish to focus only on that one.

What is the Council consulting about?

The Council has produced this consultation paper in order to seek the views of as many people as possible with an interest in the sentencing of the offences included within this consultation, and the revised domestic abuse guidance. However, it is important to clarify that the Council is consulting on sentencing these offences and not on the legislation upon which such offences are based. The relevant legislation is a matter for Parliament and is, therefore, outside the scope of this exercise.

PLEASE NOTE: We will treat all responses as public documents in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act and we may attribute comments and include a list of all respondents’ names in any final report we publish.  If you wish to submit a confidential response, you should contact us before sending the response.  PLEASE NOTE – We will disregard automatic confidentiality statements generated by an IT system. In addition, responses may be shared with the Justice Committee of the House of Commons.