Sentencing Act 2020 (c. 17)

SECOND GROUP OF PARTS U.K. Provisions applying to sentencing courts generally

PART 2 E+W Powers exercisable before passing sentence

CHAPTER 1 E+W Deferment of sentence

7 Restorative justice requirements E+W

(1) Any reference in this Chapter to a restorative justice requirement is to a requirement to participate in an activity—

(a) where the participants consist of, or include, the offender and one or more of the victims,

(b) which aims to maximise the offender's awareness of the impact of the offending concerned on the victims, and

(c) which gives an opportunity to a victim or victims to talk about, or by other means express experience of, the offending and its impact.

(2) A restorative justice requirement may not be imposed as a deferment requirement without the consent of every person who would be a participant in the activity.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), a supervisor and the offender do not count as proposed participants.

(4) A person running an activity for the purposes of a restorative justice requirement must have regard to any guidance issued from time to time by the Secretary of State with a view to encouraging good practice in connection with such an activity.

(5) In this section “victim” means a victim of, or other person affected by, the offending concerned.

Commencement Information

I1 S. 7 in force at 1.12.2020 by S.I. 2020/1236, reg. 2