Sentencing

Neither s 234 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (CJA 2003) nor the provisions of the CJA 2003  (Commencement No 8 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Order 2005 (SI 2005/950) empower a court to impose a sentence on an individual as though the offence had been committed after 5 April 2005 (the commencement date of the dangerousness provisions of CJA 2003), merely because the dates on the relevant count straddle that date.

In a case where a count on an indictment spans the commencement date, the court should not impose any penalty under ss 224 to 229 unless it is satisfied that at least one relevant offence was committed after the  commencement date. Once it is so satisfied, the mere fact that the count on the indictment has been framed in such a way to straddle the commencement date would not prevent the court applying, if appropriate, the dangerousness provisions for that offence.

Even if it is not open to the court to invoke the dangerousness provisions in respect of offences committed before the commencement date, if there are qualifying offences committed after it, those committed before might have some bearing on the issue of dangerousness or the determination of the minimum term.