Schedule 32: Amendments relating to sentencing
874.This Schedule contains amendments related to the sentencing provisions in Part 12. Most do not seem to require detailed explanation.
875.Paragraphs 40 to 43 amend the Repatriation of Prisoners Act 1984 which provides for UK nationals sentenced abroad to serve their sentences in the UK, and for foreign nationals sentenced in the UK to serve their sentences in their home country. The Act calculates the release date of repatriated prisoners based on the Criminal Justice Act 1991 and for life sentenced prisoners, the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997. The provisions in Chapter 7 of Part 12 of the Act replace these, and thus amendments to the 1984 Act are necessary. If life sentence prisoners repatriated to the UK have had no tariff or minimum period set, the Lord Chief Justice will be asked prior to repatriation to set a provisional tariff. The tariff will be formally set by the High Court once the prisoner has been repatriated to England and Wales. Release will work as currently. For all other prisoners repatriated to the UK, the amount of time the prisoner has left to serve will be calculated in the same way as currently. The total length of sentence imposed is reduced by amount of time already served, plus remand or remission. The release date is then calculated on the remainder. The release date of all prisoners repatriated to the UK (except life prisoners) will be calculated in the same way as the release date for prisoners serving over 12 months in England and Wales who are not serving a sentence under sections 225 to 228. For example, a prisoner sentenced to 10 years abroad, who has already served two years before being repatriated, will have 8 years left to serve. Under Chapter 5 of Part 12 of the Act, release is after 4 years, followed by 4 more years on licence.
876.Paragraph 125 substitutes a new Schedule 3 in the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000. Schedule 3 to the PCC(S)A deals with breach, revocation and amendment of a number of community orders. Most of them are replaced by the generic community sentence in this Act. Curfew and exclusion orders are being retained as stand-alone orders for offenders aged 10-15. Curfew orders are governed by sections 37 to 40 of the PCC(S)A and exclusion orders are governed by sections 40A to 40C of that Act. The provisions on exclusion orders are inserted by section 46 of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000, which is not yet in force. Paragraphs 78 to 82 of Schedule 25 to the Act make the changes which limit the availability of those orders to offenders under 16.
877.The new Schedule 3 therefore deals with breach, revocation and amendment of curfew orders and exclusion orders for young people up to the age of 16. The new Schedule 3 does not make any substantive changes to the way in which the existing Schedule 3 operates for those aged under 16.