Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015

Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015

2015 CHAPTER 2

Commentary on Sections

Part 1 – Criminal Justice

Dangerous offenders

Section 3: Schedule 15B offences

122. Section 3 adds various terrorism and terrorism-related offences to Schedule 15B to the Criminal Justice Act 2003. Schedule 15B sets out particularly serious sexual and violent offences which are relevant for the purposes of: eligibility for the automatic life sentence for a second Schedule 15B offence imposed under section 224A and corresponding provision in the Armed Forces Act 2006; the availability of an extended determinate sentence under section 226A and corresponding provision in the Armed Forces Act 2006, as a conviction for a Schedule 15B offence satisfies the ‘previous conviction’ condition for the imposition of an extended determinate sentence; and the release arrangements for those serving an extended determinate sentence (imposed under sections 226A and 226B and corresponding provision in the Armed Forces Act 2006). This change has the effect that an offender given an extended determinate sentence for one of these offences will not be eligible for automatic release once the two-thirds point of the appropriate custodial term has been reached, but instead will be referred by the Secretary of State to the Parole Board at that point. (Section 4 of the Act will make early release from an extended determinate sentence discretionary in all cases).

123. Subsections (2) to (5) add the listed terrorism and terrorism-related offences to Schedule 15B to the Criminal Justice Act 2003.

124. Subsections (6) to (8) clarify the application of Schedule 15B to the Criminal Justice Act 2003 to foreign EU member State service offences. Paragraph 49B of Schedule 15B as inserted provides a new definition of a member State service offence, which will ensure that previous convictions from a foreign EU service court operating outside that EU Member State will count as relevant previous convictions for the purposes of eligibility for the life sentence in section 224A of the Criminal Justice Act 2003; and eligibility for imposition of an extended determinate sentence under section 226A of that Act.

125. Subsection (9) provides that an automatic life sentence can only be given on account of one of these offences where the ‘second strike’ offence is committed on or after the date of the commencement of these provisions.

126. Subsection (10) provides that a previous conviction for one of these offences will satisfy the ‘previous conviction’ condition for the imposition of an extended determinate sentence for offenders sentenced on or after the date of the commencement of these provisions, regardless of when that prior offence was committed.

127. Subsection (11) provides that the changes to the release arrangements for offenders given an extended determinate sentence for one of these offences apply to offenders serving a sentence imposed on or after the date of the commencement of these provisions, whenever the offence in question was committed.

128. Subsection (12) makes provision about determining the date of an offence for the purposes of section 224A of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 and section 218A of the Armed Forces Act 2006. It provides that offences found to have been committed over a period of two or more days, or at an unknown point during a period of two of more days, are to be treated as though committed on the last of those days.