The increased penalties reflect new maximum sentences introduced by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. Offenders would receive up to 18 years in prison for the offences of ‘causing or allowing a child to die or suffer serious physical harm’, and up to 12 years for ‘cruelty to a child’.
The 2022 Act raised the maximum penalty for ‘causing or allowing a child to die’ from 14 years to life imprisonment and the maximum for ‘physical harm and cruelty’ from ten years to 14 years.
A specific additional category of very high culpability’ would be added to the culpability table, reflecting the approach taken in manslaughter. It would be indicated by ‘the extreme character of one or more culpability B factors and/or a combination of culpability B factors’―culpability B (high culpability) includes ‘prolonged’ or multiple incidents’, ‘gratuitous degradation or sadistic behaviour’, ‘deliberate disregard for the victim’s welfare’, ‘use of a weapon’ or ‘very significant force’.
The Council states the reasons for the additional category are that it ‘considers that the revised maximum penalties were intended by Parliament to capture the worst cases of child cruelty, rather than as a means of increasing sentences imposed across the board.
‘For example, the Council is unaware of any suggestion that sentencing is too low in lower culpability cases where the offender has been coerced, has a mental disorder, took some steps to protect the child, or where the offence resulted from a brief lapse of judgement. More broadly, the Council has not been made aware of any particular concerns about the application of the current guidelines.’
The Council is seeking views on its consultation paper by 27 October.
