Commentary on Sections Part 12 - Sentencing Chapter 5: Dangerous offenders Section 229: The assessment of dangerousness
559.This section deals with the assessment of dangerousness required for the court to establish whether the offender poses a ‘significant risk to members of the public of serious harm occasioned by the commission by him of further specified offences’ and therefore whether they are eligible for one of the new sentences for dangerous offenders. The risk criteria are based on the existing provisions at section 161(4) of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000. When making this assessment the court must take into account all the information available to it about the nature and circumstances of the offence and it may also take into account any information about the pattern of behaviour of which the offence forms a part and any information about the offender. Subsection (3)sets out that in cases where an offender is aged 18 or over and has a previous conviction for a relevant offences (as defined by subsection (4) the offender will be assumed to be dangerous, unless the court considers on the basis of the evidence before it this assumption to be unreasonable. For the purposes of the provision in subsection (3), subsection (4)provides the definition of a relevant offence. This includes any specified offence in Schedule 15 and equivalent sexual or violent offences committed in Scotland or Northern Ireland, listed in Schedules 16 and 17, which are introduced by this section.