As part of its ongoing overhaul of sentencing practice, the Sentencing Council has announced the introduction of new guidelines for all sex offences which will take effect from April 2014. The existing guidance dates from 2004, shortly after the enactment of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.
Sentencing for many sex offences has increased with, for instance, a starting point of 15 years in the highest category of a single count of rape. This is a reflection of the tendency of courts in recent years to impose tougher sentences. Also, as with other recently issued sentencing guidelines, there is more focus on the victims of crime.
Reporting of these new guidelines in the media has focussed on the possibility of good character being an aggravating feature of the offence, especially where a famous person relies on his reputation to target a victim. This is perhaps an inevitable consequence of the Operation Yewtree enquiry established in response to the Jimmy Saville revelations.
Particular attention has been paid to the increasing use of technology in the commission of sexual offences, such as social media being employed to make contact with victims, webcams enabling offences to be committed without the parties actually being in the company of each other, and the recording of the offence being viewed as an aggravating factor for the purpose of sentencing.
There has been a huge upsurge in the commission of internet child pornography offences, and the new guidelines shift the focus from numbers of images made or possessed to how the offender has used them.
With regard to historic sexual offences, offenders will be sentenced on the basis of the new guidance but having regard to the law as it was at the time the offences were committed as, for example, maximum sentences have increased over the past half century. Again, this reflects existing sentence practice as exemplified by the Stuart Hall case.
These new guidelines published by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales reflect much of the public concern about these types of offences, and represent a complete change in approach. Sentencing will be tougher; prison sentences have increased markedly.
If you are facing an allegation concerning a sexual offence it is imperative that you seek specialist advice from experienced solicitors who have an excellent, proven track record of success when defending these allegations. See our cases section on our website.
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