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Legislation / Legal
SGC: Violent offenders who carry weapons to the scene of a crime and use them on victims should face severe sentences – says a definitive guideline published by the Sentencing Guidelines Council. Sentences for such offenders who inflict particularly grave injuries should be in a range of 10 and 16 years imprisonment.
In the guideline (to be implemented on 3 March 2008) the Council sets out a series of factors that will specifically aggravate assaults and should result in greater sentences, including:
* Offenders operating in gangs or groups
* The deliberate targeting of vulnerable victims or choosing isolated places for carrying out an attack
* Attacks on victims working in the public sector or providing a service to the public
In a second guideline relating to assaults on children and the offence of cruelty to a child the Council says that where a child is the victim and the offender an adult, custody will normally result, particularly where the offence involves an abuse of trust. Where an offender only intended to administer lawful chastisement and relatively minor injury resulted that was neither foreseen nor intended, custody will not normally be appropriate.
Press release ~ Assault and Other Offences Against the Person ~ Overarching Principles: Assaults on Children and Cruelty to a Child ~ SGC ~ SAP
MoJ: Plans to simplify family court procedures and modernise legal language have been announced as part of an ongoing programme to improve people's experience in court. The proposals, which follow public consultation, are intended to align currently differing procedures for different levels of courts and follow the example set by the Civil Procedure Rules.
The proposals are in response to an earlier consultation ‘Family Procedure Rules - a new procedural code for family proceedings’ which looked at the need for:
* modernisation of language
* harmonisation with the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR)
* a single unified code of practice and
* alignment of procedures in all levels of court
The next step in developing the Family Procedure Rules will be when the Family Procedure Rule Committee consults on the draft rules themselves. This is currently planned for the end of the year.
Press release ~ Family Procedure Rules - a new procedural code for family proceedings ~ Family Procedure Rules ~ Civil Procedure Rules ~ Her Majesty's Courts Service
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