• Key Points
• Sentencing Non Recent cases of Sexual Offending
• Sentencing non-recent offences committed whilst the offender was a youth
• Dangerous Offenders
• Special Custodial Sentences for Offenders of Particular Concern

Key points

The Sentencing Council has published a Definitive Guideline on the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which applies to all offenders aged 18 years and over who are sentenced on or after April

• The Brief to the Advocate
• Speaking to Witnesses at Court
• Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs)

The Brief to the Advocate

It is essential that the brief to the advocate contains detailed information covering all relevant issues contained in the Rape Prosecutions Advice/Review Checklist and highlight any key information, which is relevant to any sentencing hearing.

• The Legal Framework
• "Sexual Offence"
• Sexual Behaviour
• Proceedings to which Section 41 applies
• Procedure and time limits
• Four gateways to admissibility
  • Gateway 1 - Section 41(3)(a) Evidence or question relates to an issue which is not an issue of consent
  • Gateway 2 - Section 41(3)(b) Consent and Contemporaneity
  • Gateway 3 - Section 41(3)(c

• Special Measures
  • Section 25(4)(a) YJCEA 1999
  • Special Measures meeting
• Intermediaries
• Ground Rules hearings (GRHs)
• Pre-trial therapy
• Complainants who withdraw support for the prosecution

Special Measures

Under sections 23 - 30 Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 (YJCEA) a range of special measures are available to support reluctant or vulnerable witnesses to give their bes

• Key Principles
• Alternative Counts
• Form and content
• Use of multiple incident counts
• Joinder

Key principles

Prosecutors are reminded of paragraph 6.1 of the Code for Crown Prosecutors, on the selection of charges.

Counts on the indictment must:

• Key dates
• Selecting Charges - key points
• Sexual Offences Act 2003 - definition of ‘sexual’
• Sexual Offences Act 2003 - non consensual offences
  • Code for Crown Prosecutors
  • Rape (Section 1)
  • Assault by penetration (section 2)
  • Sexual Assault (section 3)
  • Causing sexual activity without consent (section 4)

• Sexual abuse in a domestic setting
• Victims of child sexual abuse and exploitation
• Teenagers in abusive peer relationships
• Minoritised ethnic communities
• Gypsy, Roma and traveller victims
• Immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers
• Those with disabilities
• Pre-existing mental ill health and potential psychological reactions to sexual abuse
• Same

• Introduction with Annexed Guide

Introduction with Annexed Guide

Summary:

Annex A provides detailed (although not exhaustive) information on tackling assumptions which might be presented to prosecutors within their work.