Jurisdiction, statutory maximum and the governing guideline

Jurisdiction is the court’s legal power to deal with the offence and offender. Start by identifying the court, the offence of conviction, the route by which the matter reached that court, and the offender’s relevant age. A magistrates’ court sentences following a guilty plea or summary trial within its powers. The Crown Court sentences after conviction on indictment and after a lawful committal for sentenceGlossary termCommittal for sentence. Committal for sentence takes an already convicted offender to the Crown Court for sentencing; sending for trial takes an unresolved charge there for trial. The two acts have different statutory gateways. Sources: Sentencing Code, ss.14–22 and 224; CrimPR 28.13.

The statutory maximum is the legal ceiling for the offence in the relevant forum. It is not the normal punishment. Check both the offence-specific maximum and the court’s own limit; the lower applicable restriction controls. An indictable maximum cannot simply be used in a summary sentencing exercise. Conversely, a lawful committal can confer Crown Court sentencing powers that the magistrates themselves lack. The exact committal provision matters: not every committal permits unrestricted sentencing as on indictment. Sources: Sentencing Code, ss.14, 18–22 and 224; Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980, s.133; CrimPR 28.13.

Dates have different jobs. An offence date may determine an available maximum or a statutory saving; conviction date controls important 2026 suspension changes; the sentencing date identifies the applicable current guideline. Identify each trigger rather than treating the newest text as retrospectively applicable to every case. The Sentencing Code’s clean-sweep framework also preserves protections against a greater penalty than was legally available for earlier offending. Sources: Sentencing Act 2020, s.2 and Schedule 1; Sentencing Act 2026, ss.1–2; applicable offence and guideline commencement provisions.

The governing guideline. The court must follow a relevant sentencing guideline unless doing so would be contrary to the interests of justice. Read the offence-specific guideline with the relevant overarching guidelines. A guideline structures the statutory discretion; it cannot create a sentencing power or authorise an unlawful maximum. Where no offence-specific guideline applies, use the General guideline and the relevant overarching principles, rather than inventing a harm-and-culpability grid. Sources: Sentencing Code, s.59; Sentencing Council, General guideline: overarching principles.

Four different quantities. The maximum is the statutory ceiling. An offence range describes the guideline’s overall range for the offence. A category range is the range for the selected harm-and-culpability category. The starting point is the guideline’s initial sentence for that category before the later adjustments required by that guideline. Moving from a starting point is not the same thing as departing from a statutory maximum. Where the guideline permits movement outside a category range, the court still explains why and stays within its legal powers. Sources: Sentencing Code, ss.52 and 59; Sentencing Council, General guideline and applicable offence guideline.

Before treating custody as discretionary, check whether a mandatory sentence or statutory minimum applies. Murder’s mandatory life sentence and a minimum custodial sentence are not interchangeable with an ordinary guideline starting point. A guilty plea does not remove a mandatory life sentence; minimum-sentence regimes have their own exceptions and limits on reduction. Do not apply an unrestricted one-third reduction to a statutory floor. Sources: Sentencing Code, Part 10, Chapters 6–8; guilty-plea guideline, sections F4–F5 and G.

Repeat bladed-article minimum: eligibility before exception. For public-place possession under section 139(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, Sentencing Code section 315 requires a current offence committed on or after 17 July 2015 by someone then at least 16 who already had a relevant conviction. “Relevant” means the specified weapons, bladed-article or corrosive-substance offences and statutory equivalents, not any criminal record. Once those conditions are met, the court must impose the statutory minimum unless the applicable exception is established.

The current offence date, not the sentencing date, selects the exception. Before 28 June 2022, section 315(2) requires particular circumstances relating to the current offence, previous offence or offender which would make the minimum unjust in all the circumstances. On or after that date, section 315(2A) requires exceptional circumstances relating to those matters which justify not imposing it. Do not combine the two tests. Rehabilitation may contribute but does not automatically satisfy the exception.

Otherwise qualifying offences on 27 and 29 June 2022 therefore engage different tests even if both are sentenced in 2026. An offender aged 15 at the current offence fails the gateway before either exception is considered. Age at conviction separately determines the form of the minimum sentence. Sources: Sentencing Act 2020, s.315(1)–(5); Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, ss.124(5) and 208(5)(k), commencing the amended test on 28 June 2022.

Repair address. An error about which court can sentence belongs here and in section 6. An error about how severe the offence is belongs in section 2. Keep those questions separate before calculating anything.