Dangerous offenders

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'specified offences'

These are sexual offences/violent offences listed in Schedule 15 CJA 2003 (relates to D aged > 18 yo on the date of conviction)

all of them carry a maximum penalty of 2 years' imprisonment or more

'serious offence'

specified sexual/violent offence which is punishable in the case of a person aged > 18 yo by

(i) imprisonment for life, or

(ii) imprisonment for a determinate period of 10 years or more

'serious harm'

death or serious personal injury, whether physical or psychological

Assessment of Dangerousness

where D is assessed as dangerou,s court has power to impose a more severe sentence upon D

Dangerous offender provisions do not have any application to murder because there is only one sentence for murder - life imprisonment

Factors that the court in making the assessment must/may take into account

must take into account all such information as is available to it about the nature and circumstances of the offence

may take into account all such information as is available to it about the nature and circumstances of any other offences of which D has been convicted by a court anywhere in the world

may take into account any information which is before it about any pattern of behaviour of which any of the offences mentioned above forms part

may take into account any information about the offender which is before it

'information' is not restricted to evidence, it can include material adverse to D but which had not been proved by criminal conviction

General points

court will rely upon facts of the case, the pre-sentence report, other relevant report such as psychiatric report and the details of D's previous convictions where relevant

reports before the courts are not binding on the sentencer

in multi-handed case, the sentencer must consider the issue of dangerousness in respect of each offender separately

the court may have regard to non-specified offences, especially when they indicate an escalating pattern of seriousness i.e. it is not just previous specified offences which are relevant in the assessment of dangerousness

however, it is not a prerequisite to a finding of dangerousness that D had any previous convictions - dangerousness can be established on the basis of a single incident

sentencer should be careful when reaching a finding of dangerousness in relation to young people, especially when there is no pattern of offending - young people are more likely to act impulsively, more likely to be responsive to any sentence imposed, and more likely to change

sentencer should give reasons for all conclusion, particularly to the finding whether there is a significant risk

whether D poses a 'significant risk to members of the public of serious harm occasioned by the commission by him of further specified offences

there are two elements to this:

significant risk of D committing further specified offences, and

significant risk of serious harm to members of the public from such offences

'significant risk

'requirement that a risk be 'significant' means more than a possibility - it must be 'noteworthy, of considerable amount of importance'

'serious harm'

death or serious personal injury, whether physical or psychological

eg. D pleaded guilty to making indecent photographs of a child. If there is no evidence that the offending would escalate to photographing children or child abuse, it could not therefore he shown that he will cause death or serious injury, therefore it could not be shown that he represented a significant risk of serious harm

the fact that the further offence that is foreseen is a 'serious offence' does not automatically mean that commission of such an offence would result in 'serious harm', and if the offence foreseen is not a 'serious offence', it will be rare that there is a 'significant risk fo serious harm'

'members of public'

should not be construed so as to exclude any particular group eg. prison members, staffs in mental hospital

such a risk can properly be made out where the risk is specific to a small group of individuals, or to one potential victim

Appeal to CA?

CA will not normally interfere with the finding of dangerousness unless it can be shown that

the sentencer has failed to apply the correct principles, or

the sentencer has reached a conclusion to which he was not entitled to come on evidence

Sentencing under dangerous offenders provisions

if D is assessed to be a dangerous offender, the court has the following sentences available:

(a) Life sentence

(b) Extended sentence

(c) Other lawful sentence that the court considers appropriate

Penalties are beyond MC's sentencing powers, hence MC will need to commit for sentence to CC if sentence under dangerous offender provision is likely for an either-way offence