A number of new and revised sentencing guidelines are coming into effect today.

Updated guidelines for sentencing offenders convicted of child cruelty offences

• Causing or allowing a child to die, or causing or allowing a child to suffer serious physical harm, and
• Cruelty to a child including ill-treatment, abandonment or neglect

These guidelines introduce a ‘very high culpability’ level for the most serious cases to reflect new maximum sentences introduced by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 for these offences:

Sale of knives etc by retailers to persons under 18

These two new guidelines – one for sentencing organisations and one for individuals – apply to retailers who fail to ensure that adequate safeguards are in place to prevent the sale of knives to under 18s either in store or online.

Miscellaneous amendments

A number of sentencing guidelines used in both magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court have been amended, following the Council’s 2022 Miscellaneous amendments consultation. The majority of the changes have been made in response to recent changes in legislation and others in response to feedback from users.

Full details of the guidelines affected are set out in the Council’s Response to consultation.