Miscellaneous amendments to sentencing guidelines 2024

The issue

The Council received some feedback from a judge regarding the inconsistency of language in guidelines and a lack of clarity as to whether a sentencer can take a starting point higher or lower than that in the sentencing table before adjusting for aggravating and mitigating factors.

The Council was clear that adjustment from the starting point before further adjustment for aggravating and mitigating factors was permissible and agreed that the wording in guidelines should make this clearer. The Council looked the various forms of wording used across guidelines and concluded that it would be preferable for these to be standardised wherever possible.  

The proposed change

The Council proposes to adopt the following standard for steps 1 and 2 in guidelines. Variations in wording may be required for particular offences and these will be considered on an individual guideline basis, but absent any special requirements this is the proposed standard wording. In addition to using this wording in guidelines currently under development and future guidelines, the Council intends to review all existing guidelines and import the new standard language unless there is a particular reason not to do so.

Step 1 – Determining the offence category

The court should determine the offence category with reference only to the tables below. In order to determine the category the court should assess culpability and harm.

Step 2 – Starting point and category range

Having determined the category at step one, the court should use the corresponding starting point to reach a sentence within the category range in the table below. The starting point applies to all offenders irrespective of plea or previous convictions.

An adjustment of the starting point, upwards or downwards, may then be necessary to reflect particular features of culpability and/or harm (for example, the presence of multiple factors within one category, the presence of factors from more than one category, or where a case falls close to a borderline between categories.)

The table below contains a non-exhaustive list of additional factual elements providing the context of the offence and factors relating to the offender. Identify whether any combination of these, or other relevant factors, should result in a further upward or downward adjustment from the starting point. In some cases, having considered these factors, it may be appropriate to move outside the identified category range.

The impact

The proposed changes are not anticipated to have a direct impact on the requirement for prison or probation resources. They are merely designed to improve clarity and consistency in guidelines.