Judges currently have to contend with more than 1,300 pages
of convoluted and overlapping law – making it difficult to
apply the law consistently and causing unnecessary delays
to the justice process.
The Sentencing Code will bring greater clarity to
sentencing laws, reducing the number of errors made whilst
making sentencing hearings more efficient.
The Sentencing (Pre-consolidation Amendments) Bill brought
forward today will make necessary technical amendments and
remove historic, now redundant layers of legislation, to
pave the way for the Sentencing Code.
This will include enacting a ‘clean sweep’ to sentencing
procedural law, which will allow for all offenders
convicted after the Sentencing Code comes into force to be
sentenced according to the most up to date law,
irrespective of when they committed the offence.
The clean sweep will be subject to exceptions to make sure
that no offender is subject to a greater penalty than was
available at the time the offence was committed.
Justice Minister said:
It is vital that judges have complete clarity when making
sentencing decisions, so we want to do all we can to
reduce the complexity of the law, some of which is
centuries old.
This Bill will pave the way for the Sentencing Code,
simplifying the statute book and helping the public to
better understand the sentencing process.
Neither the pre-consolidation amendments nor the Code
introduce any new substantive law or alter the maximum or
minimum penalties available for an offence.
In 2014, the government agreed that the Law Commission
should undertake a project to consolidate sentencing
procedural law, and the Code has been subject to four
formal public consultations.
Notes to editors
- In 2014, the government agreed that the Law Commission
should undertake a project to consolidate sentencing
procedural law.
- The Sentencing Code will present the law in one place,
in a more logical order, and in simpler terms. These
improvements will assist legal professionals in applying
the law, thereby reducing the risk of error, appeals and
delay in the process.
- Before the Code can be introduced, this PCA Bill must
be introduced to remove historic layers of legislation and
correct minor errors and ambiguity in the law to enable the
consolidation in the Code to happen.
-
Both pieces of
draft legislation were published by the Law
Commission in November 2018.
- The Sentencing (Pre-consolidation Amendments) (PCA)
Bill was introduced in the House of Lords on Wednesday and
published today (23 May 2019).
