The Sentencing Advisory Panel has today published a proposal that the Court of Appeal should frame a sentencing guideline on racially aggravated offences, including racially aggravated assault, criminal damage and harassment under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

The Panel believes that a racial element in any offence should have a consistent and clearly identifiable effect on the sentences passed by the courts. If the Panel's proposals are adopted by the Court of Appeal, a judge or magistrates passing sentence for a racially aggravated offence will first have to announce a notional sentence for the basic offence, without the element of racial aggravation, and then add a percentage to reflect the seriousness of the racial element.

The Panel's proposals cover any offence which is found by the court to have been racially aggravated, as well as the specific racially aggravated offences created by the 1998 Act.

Notes for editors

1. The Sentencing Advisory Panel is an independent advisory and consultative body constituted under sections 80 and 81 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. It started work on 1 July 1999. Its function is to provide fully researched, objective advice to the Court of Appeal to assist the Court when it frames or revises sentencing guidelines.

2. The Court of Appeal issues sentencing guidelines for the criminal courts. The Crime and Disorder Act placed a new duty on the Court to consider framing or revising guidelines whenever it is considering an appeal against sentence.

3. Sections 29-32 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 create new offences of racially aggravated assault (three offences under section 29), criminal damage (section 30), harassment (two offences under section 32) and public order (three offences under section 31). For each of these new offences, the maximum penalty is higher than the maximum for the basic offence, without the element of racial aggravation. Section 82 of the Act requires the court, when dealing with any other offence where racial motivation or hostility is proved, to treat racial aggravation as a factor that increases the seriousness of the offence, and to state in open court that the offence was so aggravated.

4. An offence is defined as racially aggravated, by section 28 of the Act, if either ' at the time of committing the offence, or immediately before or after doing so, the offender demonstrates towards the victim of the offence hostility based on the victim's membership (or presumed membership) of a racial group' or if 'the offence is motivated (wholly or partly) by hostility towards members of a racial group based on their membership of that group'.

5. The provisions of the 1998 Act on racially aggravated offences came into force on 1 September 1998. They apply only to offences committed on or after that date.

6. Copies of the proposal may be obtained from: Gareth Sweny, Sentencing Advisory Panel, Room 4.71, 50 Queen Anne's Gate, London SW1H 9AT (telephone 020 7273 3046). The proposal is also available on the Panel's website: http://www.sentencing-advisory-panel.gov.uk/