Angharad Hughes

This Practice Note deals with the law relating to attempting to commit a criminal offence under the Criminal Attempts Act 1981. It details that an act must be more than merely preparatory and there must be an intention to commit an offence. It details what is meant by recklessness and what criminal offences cannot be the subject of an attempt. The position regarding attempting the impossible, jurisdiction and sentencing are also addressed in this Practice Note.

This Practice Note deals with the law relating to conspiracy, which means that at least two people have agreed to commit a crime under the Criminal Law Act 1977. It covers what is meant by statutory conspiracy, what is meant by ‘the agreement’, ‘the course of conduct to be pursued’, ‘if carried out in accordance with their intentions’ and ‘necessarily amount to or involve the commission of an offence’. It then deals with evidential considerations, including the rule that acts and statements of one party to a common purpose may be evidence against the other and the position where there is the acquittal of one of the co-accused. Finally, it covers jurisdictional considerations and sentencing.

This Practice Note explains the law relating to encouraging and assisting criminality under sections 44 to 46 of the Serious Crime Act 2007 (SCA 2007), types of inchoate offences. Encouraging an offence and assisting an offence replaced the common law offence of incitement, or inciting an offence. The Practice Note deals with intentionally encouraging or assisting an offence, encouraging or assisting an offence with the belief that it will be committed, and encouraging or assisting offences, believing one or more will be committed. It also deals with the statutory defence of acting reasonably.

This Practice Note considers sentencing procedure in the magistrates’ court and Crown Court in accordance with the Sentencing Act 2020 (Sentencing Code). It covers how a sentencing hearing takes place including information on the procedural options available to the sentencing court (eg adjourning for pre-sentence reports, and, in the magistrates’ court, committing for sentence to the Crown Court, as well as deferring a sentence or proceeding to sentence immediately). It explains the material to be obtained in advance alongside any pre-sentence report such as impact statements of victims, communities and businesses, and character references to support the defendant’s mitigation. It also covers the procedure of a sentencing hearing, explaining that the prosecution advocate opens the facts and then the defence advocate summarises mitigation before the judge then pronounces the sentence and provides links to other relevant content. It also explains the ability of the court to correct minor errors in sentences under section 142 of the Magistrates’ Court Act 1980 or section 385 of the Sentencing Act 2020, commonly referred to as ‘the slip rule’.

This Practice Note considers previous convictions, including what is meant by a spent conviction, when convictions will not become spent, rehabilitation periods and the categorisation of other means of disposal including absolute discharges, conditional cautions and fixed penalty notices etc, for criminal records purposes. It also considers, for organisations, disposals such as non prosecution or deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs). In addition, it explains how previous convictions or cautions (an offender’s criminal record) might impact upon new criminal investigations (including via searches using the Police National Computer (PNC)) and decisions to prosecute. This includes decisions to offer DPAs where corporate recidivism is concerned, requirements to disclose previous convictions in criminal or quasi criminal matters, for example when complying with a duty of candour to the court, bail applications, good and bad character assessments and sentencing. It also considers proof of previous convictions as an element of the offence.