The Sentencing Council’s draft guidelines, published this week, also cover the rising use of ‘spice’ and new offences under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016.
The draft guidelines introduce culpability factors, which may lower
sentences for offenders where coercion has taken place. The exploitation of
children and vulnerable people (known as ‘clean skins’) to transport drugs
across county lines cities to smaller towns is a growing problem. Vulnerable
people can also be exploited through ‘cuckooing’, where dealers take over their
home.
The 12-week drugs offences consultation ends on 7 April 2020.
The Sentencing Council also released research this week into supply-related
offences in the Crown Court between 2012 and 2015. It showed Asian offenders
were 1.5 times and Black offenders were 1.4 times more likely to receive an
immediate custodial sentence than White offenders.
Sentencing Council Chairman Lord Justice Holroyde
said: ‘More vulnerable people including children are being exploited either
through grooming or coercion.’
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