The Sentencing Act 2020 [2021]

The Act was brought into force on 1st December 2020 and will be the relevant piece of legislation for anyone convicted on or after 1st December 2020, regardless of the commission date of the offence.The Act is a bit of a ‘monster’ in that it contains 420 Sections and 29 Schedules. The Code does not re-write the law as regards sentencing. It merely brings the law as regards sentencing into one easily manageable Code as opposed to it being all over the place in various bits of legislation such as the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 and the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

The course will cover the following areas:

• An overview of the contents of the Act
• The custodial powers contained in the Act for both youths and adults
• The remittal powers contained in the Act for both youths and adults

Learning aims and objectives:

• To give you a complete understanding of the various types of custodial sentences that can be imposed upon anyone within the criminal justice system
• To highlight the circumstances in which a Crown Court Judge may remit a matter to the Youth Court
• To highlight the circumstances in which a Magistrates’ Court may remit a matter to another Magistrates’ Court