Child cruelty
The definitive guidelines on sentencing child cruelty were issued on 6 September 2018 and came into force on 1 January 2019.
The guidelines covered the following offences:
- Causing or allowing a child to suffer serious physical harm/ Causing or allowing a child to die
- Cruelty to a child – assault and ill treatment, abandonment, neglect, and failure to protect
- Failing to protect a girl from risk of genital mutilation
On 7 March 2023 the Council published updated guidelines to reflect changes in legislation and introduce a new very-high culpability level for the most serious cases following the introduction of new maximum sentences by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 for these offences:
- Causing or allowing a child to suffer serious physical harm/ Causing or allowing a child to die; and
- Cruelty to a child – assault and ill treatment, abandonment, neglect, and failure to protect
Consultation
The consultation on sentencing of child cruelty ran between 13 June 2017 and 13 September 2017.
Related documents
To support the guidelines and consultations, the Council publishes a range of documents. These documents may include consultation responses, statistical bulletins, resource and equality impact assessments and guideline assessments.
Related documents: Child cruelty