Martin Partington: Spotlight on the Justice System

For many years, the victims of a number of serious crimes have been able to make an application to the Solicitor General that the sentence imposed in their case was too lenient. Crimes such as murder, robbery, and a range of terror offences were covered by the scheme.

If the Solicitor General agrees he/she may refer the case to the Court of Appeal for a reconsideration of the sentence. In 2018, around 100 convicted criminals had their sentences increased under this scheme.

In its Victims Strategy, published in November 2018, the Government stated that it would review the scheme to see whether it should be extended to more offences.

The Government has announced (September 2019) that there should be an extension of the scheme to 14 further offences, including offences of controlling and coercive behaviour, as well as child sexual abuse offences, such as those involving the taking, distributing and publishing of indecent images of children and abusing a position of trust with a child.

Implementation of these decisions requires the approval of secondary legislation which is expected in the autumn 2019.

Further details of the changes is at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/more-victims-able-to-challenge-unduly-lenient-prison-sentences.

The Victims Strategy 2018 was noted in this blog on 29 November 2018