Home Secretary responds to draft guideline on allocation
10 Apr 2006
In February this year, the Sentencing Guidelines Council (SGC) - an independent body comprising members of the judiciary, police, legal professions and those with substantial experience of promoting the interests of victims - published draft guidelines for the courts dealing with cases which can be tried either in the magistrates' court or the Crown Court about how to decide where the case should be heard.
This process is known as allocation and is being changed by provisions in the Criminal Justice Act 2003, which are due to come into force in November this year.
The Home Secretary has now responded to the draft guideline for the Government. His letter was agreed with the Lord Chancellor and Attorney General. The response accepts the proposed guidelines. It suggests one simple amendment: to delete a sentence about offences taken into consideration, as what it says is not relevant to the question of allocation.
A full copy of the letter can be downloaded from the right hand side of this page. The Sentencing Guidelines Council will finalise the guidelines later this year.