Part 1: Counter-terrorism Chapter 2: Punishment and management of terrorist offenders Section 9: Extended sentences etc for terrorism offenders: England and Wales
This section amends provisions in Part 12 of the 2003 Act which, amongst other things, enables a criminal court, in England and Wales, to impose an extended sentence of imprisonment ("extended determinate sentence" ("EDS")) on an offender when certain conditions are met (section 226A and 226B) or a special custodial sentence for certain offenders of particular concern (section 236A) ("sentence for offenders of particular concern" ("SOPC")).
	Sections 226A and 226B of the 2003 Act provide for EDSs for adults and persons under 18 respectively. The sentences may be imposed in respect of the sexual and violent offences listed in Schedule 15 to the 2003 Act (referred to as "specified offences") where certain conditions are met. For both sentences, the court must consider the offender to be "dangerous", that is he or she presents a substantial risk of causing serious harm through re-offending (section 229 of the 2003 Act).
	For adults, two further conditions apply as alternatives. Either the court must consider that the current offence is serious enough to merit a determinate sentence of at least four years, or at the time the present offence was committed the offender must have previously been convicted of an offence listed in Schedule 15B to the 2003 Act. The second of these alternative conditions does not apply in respect of persons under 18.
	An EDS is a custodial term which has two operational parts. The first is the appropriate sentence commensurate with the seriousness of the offence, and then secondly an extended licence period on top (although the whole sentence, including the extended licence period, must remain within the maximum penalty for the offence). Where the conditions are made out, the court may impose an extended period for which the offender is to be subject to a licence (an "extension period") of up to five years for a violent offence and up to eight years for a sexual offence. Schedule 15 lists violent and sexual offences separately (Parts 1 and 2 respectively).
	Sections 246A of the 2003 Act makes provision about the release on licence of persons serving EDSs. Offenders will be considered for release on licence by the Parole Board once the offender has served two-thirds of the appropriate custodial term (compared with automatic release at the half-way point for standard determinate sentences), and will be released automatically at the end of the appropriate custodial term if the Parole Board has not previously directed earlier release.
	Currently the list of relevant violent offences for the purpose of the EDS regime in Part 1 of Schedule 15 to the 2003 Act includes a number of terrorism offences. Paragraph 9(2) of Schedule 4 removes those offences from Part 1 and subsection (5) of this section places them in a new Part 3 (specified terrorism offences) along with the following additional terrorist offences:
	Membership of a proscribed organisation (section 11 of the 2000 Act);
	Inviting support for a proscribed organisation (section 12 of the 2000 Act);
	Collection of information useful to a terrorist (section 58 of the 2000 Act);
	Publishing information about members of the armed forces etc. (section 58A of the 2000 Act);
	Entering or remaining in a designated area (new section 58B of the 2000 Act as inserted by section 4);
	Encouragement of terrorism (section 1 of the 2006 Act);
	Dissemination of terrorist publications (section 2 of the 2006 act); and
	Attendance at a place used for terrorism training (section 8 of the 2006 Act).
	Amendments to sections 224, 226A and 226B of the 2003 Act (made by subsections (2) to (4)) provide that the EDS regime, with an extended licence period of up to eight years, applies to the offences in the new Part 3.
Extended determinate sentences – example
Person A is convicted of an offence contrary to section 58A of the 2000 Act (eliciting, publishing or communicating information about members of the armed forces etc), and as a result of sections 6 and 8, the maximum penalty for that offence will be 15 years’ imprisonment and the offence will be one which may result in an EDS or SOPC.
The court considers the offender dangerous under the test set out in the 2003 Act and sentences the offender to an EDS.  The EDS sentence is for 15 years.  The sentence is made up of a custodial period of nine years and a six-year extension period. This means the offender will spend six years in custody (two-thirds of the custodial period) before being considered for release by the Parole Board.  The Parole Board may decide to release the offender between the six and nine year point. If the Parole Board does not release the offender during that period he will automatically be released at the end of the nine year custodial period. If released before the nine year point the offender will spend the remainder of the custodial period on licence in the community plus the extension period.  In other words, if the offender is released by the parole board after six years he will spend three years (the rest of the custodial term) on licence followed by a further six years (the extension period), a total of nine years, on licence. If the offender is not released by the Parole Board and is released at the end of his nine year custodial period he will spend six years on licence.
	When an offender is convicted of an offence listed in Schedule 18A to the 2003 Act and is sentenced to a term of imprisonment, the court must, unless it imposes a life sentence or an EDS, impose a SOPC under section 236A of the 2003 Act. The SOPC regime was created in order to remove automatic release for terrorism and child sex offences, which would have applied to a standard determinate sentence. Similarly to the EDS, it has two operational parts: firstly the appropriate custodial term, and secondly an additional licence period. The effect of a SOPC is that release between the point half-way through the custodial term and the conclusion of the term is not automatic, but is at the discretion of the Parole Board, and on release they must serve a minimum of 12 months on licence (section 236A(2) of the 2003 Act).
	Subsection (6) inserts the offences listed in paragraph 69 above into Schedule 18A of the 2003 Act. As a result, a person convicted of such an offence in the circumstances described in paragraph 71 will receive a SOPC.
Sentence for offenders of particular concern – example
Person B is convicted of an offence contrary to section 2 of the 2006 Act (dissemination of terrorist publications). As a result of sections 6 and 8 the maximum penalty for that offence will be 15 years’ imprisonment and the offence will be one which may result in an EDS or SOPC.
The court decides not to impose an EDS sentence and as a result must impose a SOPC.  The SOPC is for five years.  The sentence is made up of a custodial period of four years and a further one year licence period. This means the offender will spend two years in custody (half the custodial period) before being considered for release by the Parole Board.  If released after two years the offender will spend the rest of the custodial period on licence (in this case for two years) plus the further one year licence period. If the offender is not released between two and four years he will be released automatically at the four year point (the end of the custodial term) and serve one year on licence in the community.