The Sentencing Act 2020 (Special Procedures for Community and Suspended Sentence Orders) Regulations 2023
S.I. 2023/559 · Made 16 May 2023 · Extends to England and Wales
Criminal Law, England And Wales
Made 16th May 2023
Laid before Parliament 22nd May 2023
Coming into force 26th June 2023
The Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by section 395A(1), (3), (4) and (5) of the Sentencing Act 2020f1.
Annotations to the whole text
Footnotes
- f1
-
2020 c. 17. Section 395A was inserted by section 153 of, and paragraphs (1) and (2) of Schedule 14 to, the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (c. 32).
Contents
- 1Citation, commencement and extent
- 2Special procedures for community and suspended sentence orders
- 3Regulation 3
- 4Regulation 4
- 5Regulation 5
- 6Regulation 6
- 7Regulation 7
- Signature
- Explanatory note
1Citation, commencement and extentI1
These Regulations may be cited as the Sentencing Act 2020 (Special Procedures for Community and Suspended Sentence Orders) Regulations 2023.
These Regulations extend to England and Wales.
These Regulations come into force on 26th June 2023.
2Special procedures for community and suspended sentence ordersI1
3I1
The first condition is that the proposed order is made within the period F1beginning with the day on which these Regulations come into force and ending with 31st March 2029.
4I1
The second condition is that the court making the order is—
Birmingham Magistrates’ Court,
the Crown Court sitting at Liverpool, or
the Crown Court sitting at Teesside Combined Court Centre.
5I1
The third condition is that the person who is to be subject to the order is—
a person aged 18 or over at the date of conviction of the offence to which the order relates,
where the order is made by Birmingham Magistrates’ Court, a female person, and
not a relevant offender as defined at section 80(2) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003f1 at the date of conviction of the offence to which the order relates.
6I1
Subject to regulation 7 the fourth condition is that none of the offences to which the proposed order relates is—
an offence under section 1 or section 1A of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953f1,
an offence under Part 1 of the Firearms Act 1968f2,
an offence under section 139, section 139A, section 139AA, section 141 or section 141A of the Criminal Justice Act 1988f3,
an offence under section 6 of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019f4, or
an offence listed in paragraphs 1 to 35C of Schedule 3 to the Sexual Offences Act 2003f5.
7I1
But the fourth condition will be met where—
any of the offences to which the order is to relate is an offence under section 1 of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 or section 139 or 139A of the Criminal Justice Act 1988,
the person who is to be subject to the order has not previously been convicted of an offence mentioned in sub-paragraphs (a) to (d) of regulation 6, and
the person who is to be subject to the order has not, before the date of conviction of the offence to which the order relates, been convicted of an offence mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) of this regulation.
Signature
Damian Hinds
Minister of State
Ministry of Justice
16th May 2023
Explanatory note
(This note is not part of the Regulations)
The Sentencing Act 2020, as amended by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, makes provision for special procedures to apply to community orders and suspended sentence orders in certain cases.
The special procedures give both magistrates’ courts and the Crown Court the power to require regular reviews of community and suspended sentence orders in certain cases. A progress report will be produced by probation services for the review hearing and the court may make amendments to certain conditions of the order on considering the report and the outcome of the review discussion. Incentives may be ordered by varying the frequency of review hearings or altering other parts of the order to recognise positive progress. The court may find that a breach of the order has occurred in which case they may hold a breach hearing where they may make amendments to the order and may commit to custody for up to 28 days on no more than 3 occasions during the order.
Section 395A of the Sentencing Act provides a power for regulations to specify the community or suspected sentence orders which may qualify for special procedures, including by reference to the courts by which the orders are made, the persons who are subject to the orders and the offence to which the orders relate. Since this is the first use of the power, these Regulations make provision for a period of 18 months from the date they come into force, during which orders may be made which qualify for special procedures.
The Regulations provide that the courts which may make qualifying orders are the magistrates’ court sitting at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court, the Crown Court sitting in Liverpool and the Crown Court sitting at the Teesside Combined Court Centre.
These Regulations detail certain eligible categories of individuals who may be made subject to an order qualifying for special procedures. The individual must be aged 18 or over at the date of conviction and in the Birmingham Magistrates’ Court they may only be a female person. Persons who are subject to notification requirements as defined at section 80(2) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 at the date of conviction will not be eligible to be the subject of an order qualifying for special procedures.
These Regulations also set out certain categories of offences where an order qualifying for special procedures cannot be made. These include sexual offences and weapons offences. Exception is made for first-time possession offences where these relate to knives or bladed weapons and the offender has not previously been convicted of a listed weapons offence or a possession of a knife or bladed article offence. In the case of first-time possession offences outlined above the court will retain discretion to consider the suitability of the person to take part in the pilot scheme.
A specific need for a women-only pilot has been identified and an equality statement produced.
A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.