Sentencing

The information to be taken into account when making the assessment of ‘dangerousness’ for the purposes of ss 225-229 of the CJA 2003 is not limited to the offender’s previous convictions or a pattern of behaviour established by them.

It follows that information bearing on the assessment of dangerousness may take the form of material adverse to the offender which is not substantiated or proved by criminal convictions.

There will be very few cases in which a fair analysis of all the information in the papers prepared by the prosecution, events at the trial (if there has been one), the judicial assessment of the defendant’s character and personality (a critical feature in the assessment), the material in mitigation drawn to the attention of the court by the defendant’s advocate, the contents of the pre-sentence report, and any psychiatric or psychological assessment prepared on behalf of the defendant, or at the behest of the court itself, should not provide the judge with sufficient appropriate information on