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CBA's Role in Criminal Law: Sentencing Guidelines for Arson and Criminal Damage Offenses, Study Guides, Projects, Research of Criminal Law

Swansea UniversityCriminal Law

The role of the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) in promoting professional standards in law, providing education, and assisting with consultation. It also explores the need for sentencing guidelines for offenses of criminal damage, arson, and threats to destroy or damage property. insights into the types of offenses and the challenges in creating comprehensive guidelines, as well as the CBA's perspective on the draft guidelines.

Typology: Study Guides, Projects, Research

2021/2022

Uploaded on 09/12/2022

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RESPONSE TO CONSULTATION ON ARSON AND CRIMINAL
DAMAGE DRAFT SENTENCING GUIDELINE
Introduction
1. The CBA represents the views and interests of practising members of the
criminal Bar in England and Wales.
2. The CBA’s role is to promote and maintain the highest professional standards
in the practice of law; to provide professional education and training and
assist with continuing professional development; to assist with consultation
undertaken in connection with the criminal law or the legal profession; and to
promote and represent the professional interests of its members.
3. The CBA is the largest specialist Bar association, with over 4,500 subscribing
members; and represents all practitioners in the field of criminal law at the
Bar. Most practitioners are in self-employed, private practice, working from
sets of Chambers based in major towns and cities throughout the country. The
international reputation enjoyed by our Criminal Justice System owes a great
deal to the professionalism, commitment and ethical standards of our
practitioners. The technical knowledge, skill and quality of advocacy all
guarantee the delivery of justice in our courts, ensuring that all persons
receive a fair trial and that the adversarial system, which is at the heart of
criminal justice in this jurisdiction, is maintained.
Response
Introduction
4. Although the Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Guidelines (MCSG) give
guidance on sentencing for summary only offences of ‘arson (criminal
damage by fire)’, ‘criminal damage (other than by fire) and racially or
religiously aggravated criminal damage’, there are currently no sentencing
guidelines for offenders sentenced in the Crown Court for offences of criminal
damage (by arson or otherwise); arson in its aggravated form; or threats to
destroy or damage property. Currently, sentencers in the Crown Court rely
on the guidance given in Att.-Gen.’s Reference (No. 68 of 2008) (R. v. Myrie) [2009]
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RESPONSE TO CONSULTATION ON ARSON AND CRIMINAL

DAMAGE DRAFT SENTENCING GUIDELINE

Introduction

  1. The CBA represents the views and interests of practising members of the criminal Bar in England and Wales.
  2. The CBA’s role is to promote and maintain the highest professional standards in the practice of law; to provide professional education and training and assist with continuing professional development; to assist with consultation undertaken in connection with the criminal law or the legal profession; and to promote and represent the professional interests of its members.
  3. The CBA is the largest specialist Bar association, with over 4,500 subscribing members; and represents all practitioners in the field of criminal law at the Bar. Most practitioners are in self-employed, private practice, working from sets of Chambers based in major towns and cities throughout the country. The international reputation enjoyed by our Criminal Justice System owes a great deal to the professionalism, commitment and ethical standards of our practitioners. The technical knowledge, skill and quality of advocacy all guarantee the delivery of justice in our courts, ensuring that all persons receive a fair trial and that the adversarial system, which is at the heart of criminal justice in this jurisdiction, is maintained. Response Introduction
  4. Although the Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Guidelines (MCSG) give guidance on sentencing for summary only offences of ‘arson (criminal damage by fire)’, ‘criminal damage (other than by fire) and racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage’, there are currently no sentencing guidelines for offenders sentenced in the Crown Court for offences of criminal damage (by arson or otherwise); arson in its aggravated form; or threats to destroy or damage property. Currently, sentencers in the Crown Court rely on the guidance given in Att.-Gen.’s Reference (No. 68 of 2008) (R. v. Myrie) [2009]

2 Cr.App.R.(S.) 48, CA where the Court of Appeal identified starting point sentences of 8 to 10 years’ imprisonment for offences of arson with intent to endanger life; and generally, a lower starting point sentence for offences involving the reckless endangerment of life – whilst recognizing that there can be a fine line between the most serious cases of reckless endangerment and the least serious cases of intentional endangerment.

  1. These offences are encountered frequently in the Crown Court, and the CBA therefore welcomes the Sentencing Council’s decision to issue guidelines for such offences. It is understood that the draft guidelines are intended to complement the MCSGs as opposed to supersede them.
  2. There is a vast range of seriousness of offending associated with these offences. At the higher end of the scale of seriousness, is deliberate fire setting with the intention of causing a loss of life and, or substantial loss of property. At the other end of the scale of seriousness, is damaging or destroying property of low value or making threats to do the same, which tend to form part of a course of criminal conduct or collection of multiple offending.
  3. Therefore, it can be seen that the Sentencing Council’s draft guidelines for offences of Arson and Criminal Damage offences, has the difficult task of seeking to provide comprehensive guidance for a wide scope of offending which overlaps with previous guidance given by the Sentencing Council in the MCSGs; Overarching Principles, Domestic Violence guideline; and Offences taken into consideration and totality guideline. The draft guideline, in the view of the CBA, has in the large part achieved that goal.
  4. In respect of serious offences of arson particularly, the experience of the membership of the CBA, is that offending typically (but not exclusively) falls into three categories: a. offences committed by offenders suffering from mental health or psychological deficits; b. offences committed by offenders with the intention of making false claims against insurance policies; and c. offences committed by offenders with the intention of exacting revenge or enforcing a form of intimidation.
  5. The draft guidelines deal amply with these three categories of offences.
  6. The draft guidelines do not cover offences of: a. Possessing anything with intent to destroy or damage property,
  1. The starting point sentences and sentencing ranges are in line with current sentencing practice. This appears to have been a deliberate decision by the Sentencing Council, which analyzed the sentencing remarks of sentencers in the Crown Court of 110 offenders convicted of arson and criminal damage offences; and a survey of 25 magistrates (which promoted a greater focus on the intention and motivation of offenders). The sentencing tariffs in the sentencing tables have also been arrived at by analysing data from the Ministry of Justice’s Court Proceedings database (CPD). Therefore, the draft guidelines apparently seeks to regularise the status quo.
  2. The draft guidelines follow the familiar structure of assessing the culpability of the offender and the harm caused by the offence at step one; then at step two, using the results of the assessments of culpability and harm to arrive at a starting point sentence; and then adjusting the starting point sentence based on familiar aggravating or mitigating factors, in order to arrive at a notional (pre-credit) sentence.
  3. The draft guidelines might have been simpler had there been just 2 guidelines based on the different sentencing maxima for such offences (life imprisonment for arson with intent to endanger life or being reckless as to such endangerment; and 10 years’ imprisonment for all other offences). However, owing to the vast range of seriousness of offending associated with these offences, the guidelines as drafted achieves a more tailored approach to sentencing and overcomes presentational difficulties.
  4. Specifically, in respect of criminal damage offences, intuitively, it would have been simpler for there to have been a single guideline (regardless of the value of the damage) and for value to have been reflected as an indicative factor in the harm assessment. However, offences of criminal damage under £5000 are triable only summarily and so a single guideline for criminal damage offences would have been impracticable. There is though the potential for inconsistency and confusion by virtue of the fact that where there has been no sending for trial on a charge of criminal damage, and the indictment is amended to add a count of criminal damage, the maximum sentence is 10 years’ imprisonment even if the value involved is less than £5,000 ( R v Alden [2002] 2 Cr.App.R. (S) 74 ). The CBA would suggest that to avoid any confusion, the guideline for criminal damage offences where the value is less than £ should state that unless in exceptional circumstances, it should be applied regardless of the mechanism by which the count is added to the indictment.
  5. On the title page of each of the 5 draft guidelines, is the following caption

‘Where offence committed in a domestic context, also refer to the Domestic Abuse: Overarching Principles guideline’. This is a well thought out addition given the fact that arson and criminal damage offences are often committed in a domestic context and often in combination with other types of offending against partners and relatives.

  1. In respect of the draft guidelines for arson in its simple and aggravated forms (and threats to do the same), at the foot of the respective sentencing tables, sentencers are advisers to consider obtaining psychiatric reports where there may be an underlying mental health disorder. This follows (to some extent) the guidance in R v Calladine, The Times, 3 rd^ December 1975, CA that it is unwise to sentence in a case of arson without a psychiatric report.
  2. However, although the draft guidelines for: simple arson offences; criminal damage (other than by fire) value over £5,000, and racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage; criminal damage (other than by fire) value under £5,000, and racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage; and threats to destroy or damage property includes the following indicative factor of lesser culpability: ‘Offender’s responsibility substantially reduced by mental disorder or learning disability’. However, it later adds the caveat ‘Reduced weight may be given to this factor where an offender exacerbates a mental disorder by voluntarily abusing drugs or alcohol or by voluntarily failing to follow medical advice’. This is replicated (in the context of mental disorder or learning disability as a mitigating factor) in the sentencing approaches for criminal damage/ arson with intent to endanger life or reckless as to whether life is endangered.
  3. The treatment of ‘reduced responsibility’ based on mental disorder or leaning disability, as a culpability factor for some offences and a mitigating factor for other offences, is not inconsistent per se. However, the caveat (as drafted) could give the suggestion that mental illness can be self-induced (and thus, is less deserving of leniency). The reality is that it is not always possible to ascertain the cause of mental illness (certainly without clear medical evidence which will not always be available) or whether the abuse of drugs or alcohol (which exacerbates the disorder) is a symptom of the disorder itself. Offenders do not want to be mentally unwell, and often it is the illness that drives them to abuse substances. To reflect this, the CBA suggests that the caveat should be amended to read ‘Reduced weight may be given to this factor where there is medical evidence that the offender’s mental disorder is treatable and there is demonstrable evidence that the offender has failed or refused to follow medical advice or accept help that could have prevented the commission of the offence’.
  4. We would ask that consideration is given to inserting a sentence above the sentencing ranges in terms similar to “ Where there is a sufficient prospect of

Structure of draft guideline (1) ARSON

  1. The assessment of culpability is based on the following factors:
  2. The assessment of harm is based on the following factors:
  1. The following sentencing table is based on the earlier assessments of harm and culpability:
  2. Starting point sentences are then adjusted based on the following aggravating and mitigating factors:
  1. The following sentencing table is based on the earlier assessments of harm and culpability:
  1. Starting point sentences are then adjusted based on the following aggravating and mitigating factors:
  1. The following sentencing table is based on the earlier assessments of harm and culpability:
  2. Starting point sentences are then adjusted based on the same aggravating and mitigating factors proposed in the arson offence, with the exception of ‘fire set in or near a public amenity’ , for obvious reasons.
  3. Having adjusted the starting point sentence based on the aggravating and mitigating factors, and having arrived at a notional sentence for the base offence, the following factors must then be considered in racially or religiously aggravated offences in order to determine the level of aggravation:

(4) Criminal Damage (other than by fire) value under £

  1. The assessment of culpability is based on the same factors as identified for offences over criminal damage where the value of the damage is over £5000:
  2. The assessment of harm is based on the following factors:
  1. The following sentencing table is based on the earlier assessments of harm and culpability:
  2. Starting point sentences are then adjusted based on the following aggravating and mitigating factors:

Survey responses (1) Arson

  1. Question 1: Do you agree with the proposed factors within culpability? If not, please tell us why. a. Yes, subject to the observation about ‘Reduced weight may be given to this factor where an offender exacerbates a mental disorder by voluntarily abusing drugs or alcohol or by voluntarily failing to follow medical advice’.
  2. Question 2: Do you agree with the proposed harm factors for this offence? If not, please tell us why. a. Yes.
  3. Question 3: Do you agree with the proposed sentence table? If not, please tell us why. a. Yes.
  4. Question 4 : Do you agree with the inclusion of this text within the guideline? a. Yes.
  5. Question 5 : Do you agree that the proposed aggravating and mitigating factors cover the most likely factors that would apply to these offences? If not, please tell us why. a. Yes. Subject to the observation about offenders who cause fires accidentally and then omit to act thereafter. (2) Criminal Damage/ Arson with intent to endanger life or reckless as to whether

a. Yes.

  1. Question 13: Do you agree with the proposed sentence table? If not, please tell us why. a. Yes.
  2. Question 14: Do you agree with the proposed approach to the sentencing of racially or religiously aggravated criminal damage offences? If not, please tell us why and suggest any alternative approaches which you think should be considered. a. Yes. (4) Criminal Damage (other than by fire) value under £
  3. Question 15: Do you agree with the proposed culpability factors? If not, please tell us why. a. Yes, subject to the observation about ‘Reduced weight may be given to this factor where an offender exacerbates a mental disorder by voluntarily abusing drugs or alcohol or by voluntarily failing to follow medical advice’.
  4. Question 16: Do you agree with the proposed harm factors for this offence? If not, please tell us why. a. Yes.
  5. Question17: Do you agree with the proposed sentence table? If not, please tell us why. a. Yes.
  6. Question 18: Do you agree that there should be two separate guidelines, one for offences where the value exceeds £5,000, and one for offences where the value is under £5,000? If you do not agree, please tell us why and suggest any alternative approaches. a. On balance the CBA agrees that there should be two separate guidelines, but would suggest that the guideline for criminal damage offences where the value is less than £5000 should state that unless in exceptional circumstances, it should be applied regardless of the mechanism by

which the count is on the indictment. (5) Threats to destroy or damage property

  1. Question 19: Do you agree with the proposed culpability factors for this offence? If not, please tell us why. a. Yes, subject to the observation about ‘Reduced weight may be given to this factor where an offender exacerbates a mental disorder by voluntarily abusing drugs or alcohol or by voluntarily failing to follow medical advice’.
  2. Question 20: Do you agree with the proposed harm factors for this offence? If not, please tell us why. a. Yes.
  3. Question 21 : Do you agree with the proposed sentence table? If not, please tell us why. a. Yes.
  4. Question 22 : Do you agree with the inclusion of this text within the guideline? a. Yes.
  5. Question 23 Do you agree that the proposed aggravating and mitigating factors cover the most likely factors that would apply to these offences? If not, please tell us why. a. Yes.
  6. Question 24 : Are there any equality or diversity matters that the Council should consider for the guidelines discussed? Please provide evidence of any issues where possible. a. No. Thomas Schofield, No5 Chambers. The Criminal Bar Association 6 th^ June 2018