For the first time, comprehensive guidelines have been published for how offenders convicted of manslaughter should be sentenced in England and Wales. These very serious and difficult cases can range from an unintended death resulting from an assault, to a workplace fatality caused by a negligent employer. The Sentencing Council says the serious nature of manslaughter, combined with the great variation in cases, and the fact that cases do not come before individual judges very frequently, means the introduction of these guidelines will be particularly useful in promoting consistency in sentencing and transparency in terms of how sentencing decisions are reached. The types of manslaughter covered by the guidelines are: unlawful act manslaughter; manslaughter by reason of loss of control; gross negligence manslaughter; and manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. There is already sentencing guidelines for corporate manslaughter, which comes under the council's health and safety offences guideline. Overall, the new guidelines are unlikely to change sentence levels but it is expected that in some gross negligence cases sentences will increase. This could be in situations where, for example, an employer's long-standing and serious disregard for the safety of employees, motivated by cost-cutting, has led to someone being killed. Current sentencing practice in these types of cases is lower in the context of overall sentence levels for manslaughter than for other types. The new guidelines state that the maximum sentence for this offence is life imprisonment, with a sentencing range of between 1 to 18 years' custody.
展开▼
