1 Introduction
1. The draft guideline on robbery was published by
the Sentencing Guidelines Council (hereafter "the Council")
on 28 November 2005. It took into account advice it had received
from the Sentencing Advisory Panel (published in May 2004), based
on wide consultation initiated by its Consultation Paper of 9
April 2003. It is open to any member of the public or organisation
to respond to the Panel's consultations; and the Committee had
the benefit of reading the 39 responses received. We received
our own responses (listed in Annex A) to the draft guideline after
publication, and are grateful to those who supplied them. We express
our thanks to Professor Rod Morgan, Chair of the Youth Justice
Board, for addressing us on the significance of the draft guideline
for young offenders.
2. In the last Parliament the Home Affairs Committee
agreed to a request from the Government that it should undertake
regular scrutiny of draft sentencing guidelines issued by the
then new Sentencing Guidelines Council. The Committee's role is
consultative. In the last Parliament our predecessors produced
a report on the first two draft sentencing guidelines.[1]
No report on the third draft guideline was possible because it
was issued at a time when the Committee was unnominated following
the 2005 General Election.[2]
The draft guideline on robbery is the fourth to be issued by the
Council.
3. We generally endorse the structure and flexibility
of the draft guideline. It is based on three levels of seriousness,
with helpful lists of aggravating and mitigating factors which
create the fluidity necessary for proportionate sentencing for
offences where the range of conduct is wide. We note that the
impact on victims is explicitly taken into account. The Sentencing
Advisory Panel recognised the need for separate guidelines for
adult and youth offenders, and different sentencing ranges are
accordingly presented. There have been several significant changes
since the Panel gave its advice: the Council has produced a guideline
addressing the assessment of seriousness, and the provisions on
the sentencing of dangerous offenders (in the Criminal Justice
Act 2003) have come into force. This Report does not aim to comment
in detail on all aspects of the draft guideline, but to set out
some basic background and then focus on issues of particular concern.
1 Home Affairs Committee, Fifth Report of Session 2003-04,
Draft Sentencing Guidelines 1 and 2 (HC 1207), published
on 4 November 2004. The guidelines were on 'reduction in sentence
for a guilty plea' and 'Overarching principles: seriousness /
New sentences: Criminal Justice Act 2004'. Back
2
On 'Manslaughter by reason of provocation'. Back
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