2016 No. 58

Criminal Procedure

The Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Reviews of Sentencing) Order (Northern Ireland) 2016

Made

Coming into operation-

The Department of Justice makes the following Order in exercise of the powers conferred by section 35(4) of the Criminal Justice Act 19881, and now vested in it 2:

Citation, commencement and interpretation1

1

This Order may be cited as the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Reviews of Sentencing) Order (Northern Ireland) 2016 and shall come into operation on 1st April 2016.

2

“The 1988 Act” means the Criminal Justice Act 1988.

Part 4 of the 1988 Act

2

Part 4 of the 1988 Act (reviews of sentencing) shall apply to any case in which sentence is passed on a person for any of the following offences-

a

an offence under section 20 of the Offences Against the Person Act 18613 (inflicting bodily injury, with or without weapon);

b

an offence under Article 3 of the Protection of Children (Northern Ireland) Order 19784 (indecent photographs of children);

c

an offence under Article 15 of the Criminal Justice (Evidence, Etc.) (Northern Ireland) Order 19885 (possession of indecent photograph of child);

d

an offence under Article 4 of the Waste and Contaminated Land (Northern Ireland) Order 19976 (prohibition on unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal, etc., of waste);

e

an offence under section 71 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 7 (slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour);

f

an offence under section 4 of the Welfare of Animals Act (Northern Ireland) 20118 (unnecessary suffering);

g

an offence under section 8(1) and 8(2) of the Welfare of Animals Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 (fighting etc).

3

An offence described in Article 2 includes:

a

an offence of attempting to commit any of the offences described in Article 2: or

b

an offence under Part 2 of the Serious Crime Act 20079 (encouraging or assisting crime) in relation to an offence in Article 2 is the offence (or one of the offences) which the person intended or believed would be committed.

Sealed with the Official Seal of the Department of Justice on 18th February 2016

seal_r00001David FordMinister of Justice
EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

Part 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, as amended by the Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002, (c.26) empowers the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland (“the DPP”), with the leave of the Court of Appeal, to refer certain cases to that Court where the DPP considers that the sentences imposed were unduly lenient.

Article 2(a) specifies offences of bodily injury with or without a weapon.

Article 2(b) and Article (c) specifies offences concerning the indecent images of children.

Article 2(d) specifies offences of unauthorised or harmful deposit or disposal etc. of waste.

Article 2(e) specifies offences of slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour committed before 14 January 2015. Section 71 was repealed and re-enacted, with certain amendments, by the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 (2015 c.2 (N.I.)). The new offence is contained in section 1 of that Act and is triable only on indictment; it may therefore be automatically appealed in accordance with section 35(3)(b) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988.

Article 2(f) and (g) specifies the three animal welfare offences of unnecessary suffering and fighting.

Article 3 specifies cases in which a sentence is passed for attempting, encouraging or assisting the commission of any of the offences in Article 2.