Sentencing—sexual offences against children
34A Sentencing—sexual offences against children
For a sexual offence against a child, a court—
must sentence the offender in accordance with sentencing practice, including sentencing patterns, at the time of sentencing; and
must not reduce the severity of a sentence it would otherwise have imposed on an offender because the offender has good character, to the extent that the offender’s good character enabled the offender to commit the offence.
Examples—par (b)
1 The offender’s good character was one reason the offender was selected to supervise children on a camp. The offender began to establish a relationship with children at the camp to obtain their compliance in acts of a sexual nature.
2 A child’s parents trusted the offender to care for the child because of the offender’s authority in their community. The offender held authority in the community in part because of the offender’s good character. The offender sexually abused the child including while the child was in the offender’s care.
A sentence is limited to the maximum sentence that applied to the offence when it was committed (see Human Rights Act 2004, s 25 (2)).
This Act’s bill:Explanatory statementSecond reading speech
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