Royal Assent
A new code to simplify the country’s complex sentencing laws has moved a step closer after the Sentencing Act 2020 received Royal Assent.
Currently, some 1,300 pages of complicated and convoluted law exist on sentencing – often making it difficult for judges to identify and apply the law and sometimes leading to mistakes being made.
The Sentencing Code will consolidate this, slashing the law on the sentencing procedure by more than half to ensure greater clarity, reduce the risk of errors and improve the efficiency of sentencing hearings. It will enable judges and practitioners to concentrate on the sentence itself, rather than the technicalities of the process which can cause unnecessary delays.
It forms part of a wider move by the government to boost transparency and understanding of the justice system, which includes legislation passed earlier this year to allow the filming and broadcast of senior judges’ sentencing remarks in the Crown Court.
“This is a generational moment. As a former Recorder, I know how hard it can be for judges and practitioners to apply such complex laws.
Issue No: 188 Date: 02/11/2020
“The new Sentencing Code will help provide much-needed clarity, reducing errors and restoring faith that the law is being applied correctly.”
Sentencing code
The Code does not introduce any new substantive laws or alter the maximum or minimum penalties for offenses. It follows a Sentencing (Pre-consolidation Amendments) Act, which was given Royal Assent on 8 June.
This includes a ‘clean sweep’ of sentencing procedural law, which will mean that once the Code comes into force, all offenders convicted after its commencement will be sentenced according to the most up-to-date law, irrespective of when the offense was committed.
In 2014, the government agreed that the Law Commission should undertake the ‘Sentencing Code’, project to consolidate sentencing procedural law.
The project has been subject to four formal public consultations – receiving backing from judges, lawyers, and academics. The Code will come into force on a date specified by a commencement regulation, which will be made in due course.
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