The guidelines for the “Principle of Totality” have been operating since 11 June 2012 and are used across all criminal courts.
It directs the court when determining a just and proportionate total sentence when an offender has committed more than one offence or is already serving a sentence.
The general principles’ aims are to ensure that the overall sentence imposed:
- Reflects all of the offending behaviour with regard to overall harm and culpability as well as mitigating and aggravating factors that relate to both the offences and those personal to the offender.
- Are just and proportionate.
The sentences imposed can be concurrent (served at the same time) or consecutive (served one after the other):
- If concurrent, the sentence often requires an upward adjustment, which can go beyond the category range for a single offence, in order to be ‘just and proportionate’. This is because a single offence is unlikely to fairly reflect the overall offending behaviour.
- If consecutive, a downward adjustment is usually needed as adding together notional single sentences is unlikely to reach a ‘just and proportionate’ sentence.
If you would like to read more about the Principle of Totality, please follow the link below to our blog: https://www.motoroffence.co.uk/what-if-i-face-charges-for-multiple-offences-will-i-receive-points-for-each-offence/
Revisions
Following consultations which ran from October 2022 and January 2023, proposed revisions to the totality guidelines have been published, which will be active from 01 July 2023.
From the research conducted, sentencers generally agreed that the guidelines are clear and useful so revisions have focused more on ensuring that the content of the current guidance is up-to-date and arranged in a way that is accessible, without amending the essentials of the contents.
Furthermore, in response to the consultations, navigating the guidelines without losing any of the important details has now been made easier by digitalisation. For example, drop-down boxes in the guidelines can now include specific examples for certain scenarios which is useful for those sentencing.
The ‘response to consultation’ document published in June 2023 assesses the proposed revisions which aim to do the following to existing guidance:
- Emphasise how the courts can achieve a just and proportionate sentence.
- Update guidance to reflect changes in case law.
- Elaborate on how the court should approach sentencing where an offence pre-dates other offences that the offender has already been sentenced for.
- Provide further examples of how the guidelines might apply to specific situations.
- Improve the ease of usage and navigation of the guideline while retaining the existing levels of detail.
The impact of the changes
The Sentencing Council states that proposed revisions are unlikely to lead to significant changes to sentencing.
This is agreed by most respondents who state that the changes will likely lead to improvements that will help victims understand the sentences, and make it easier to use the guide. Changes will, however, be unlikely to impact the levels of sentencing.
Conclusion
To conclude, the recent revisions in the guidance for the Principle of Totality came into force from 01 July 2023.
According to most respondents who have reviewed the changes, the proposed amendments to the guidance are unlikely to impact the levels of sentencing. The revisions primarily assist readers and those sentencing to more easily navigate the guidance and elaborate on points further or include examples that are designed to iron out any vagueness and improve understanding.
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