Dangerousness, reasons and the practical sentencing checklist

Dangerousness is a statutory assessment, not an adjective. A high maximum, a serious offence label or a previous conviction does not itself establish the dangerous-offender gateway. The court must identify the qualifying specified offence and assess a significant risk to members of the public of serious harm from further specified offending. Serious harm includes death or serious personal injury, physical or psychological. The assessment considers the offence’s nature and circumstances, relevant patterns of behaviour and information about the offender; prior convictions are not an indispensable condition of the risk finding. Sources: Sentencing Code, ss.306 and 308.

Keep that public-protection assessment distinct from the short-sentence suspension provision concerning risk to a particular individual. The two tests have different statutory wording, purposes and consequences. Evidence can be relevant to both, but satisfaction of one is not a substitute for applying the other. Obtain and consider a PSR where the statutory report requirement applies unless it is unnecessary under section 30. Sources: Sentencing Code, ss.280(2), 264A(3)(h), 277A(3)(h) and 30.

Extended determinate sentence. This combines an appropriate custodial term with an additional licence period for public protection. For the age-21-and-over route, section 280 requires a specified offence, the dangerousness finding, no overriding mandatory life or serious-terrorism sentence requirement, and either the relevant earlier-offence condition or an appropriate custodial term of at least four years. The earlier-offence condition uses the specified Schedule 14 convictions and its own timing rules; it is not satisfied by any previous conviction. The age-18-to-20 route has its own provisions in sections 266–268. Sources: Sentencing Code, ss.279–281 and 266–268.

Under section 281, the additional licence period is at least one year, normally capped at five years for a specified violent offence or eight years for a specified sexual or terrorism offence. The current statute provides a ten-year cap for a serious terrorism offence where the extended sentence is imposed on or after 29 June 2021. The custodial term plus extension cannot exceed the offence maximum. This is a supporting explanation of the statutory structure, not a direction to memorise every specialist offence list for this chapter. Source: Sentencing Code, s.281(3)–(5), including the amendments by Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Act 2021, ss.18 and 50.

Other special sentences. Mandatory life, discretionary life and the special custodial sentence for an offender of particular concern have distinct conditions. The latter is not simply another name for an extended sentence, and its Schedule 13 gateway must be checked in its current form, including the relevant commenced 2026 amendments. A court must not manufacture dangerousness merely to justify a special sentence. Nor can the ordinary SSO provisions be used to suspend a sentence that the statute excludes. Sources: Sentencing Code, ss.265, 278, 283–285A and Schedule 13; Sentencing Act 2026, s.7; Sentencing Code, ss.264 and 277.

Sentence imposed and release are different. The court imposes a sentence; release, licence and recall operate under their own statutory regimes. A custodial term is not a promise that the offender will spend its entire nominal length in prison, but it is equally wrong to promise one universal fraction for every offender. The Sentencing Act 2026 release changes originally scheduled for September were postponed by the operative commencement instruments: the relevant new phased release provisions begin from 1 October 2026, not as current law on 5 September. Do not use those future provisions to calculate current custody or to alter the sentence selected. Sources: Criminal Justice Act 2003, Part 12, Chapter 6; Sentencing Act 2026, ss.23–24; SI 2026/953, regs.2–7.

Reasons and explanation. State reasons in open court in ordinary language and explain the effect of the sentence, the requirements and consequences of non-compliance. The explanation should show the legal and factual route, not just the final number. Identify the guideline, any necessary departure, the factual findings, the adjustments, the report decision, the threshold, the term and any suspension decision, and each additional order. Account for the defendant’s ability to understand. Sources: Sentencing Code, s.52; CrimPR 24.11 and 25.16(6)–(7); CPD 9.6.

Current law and scheduled commencement. The core March suspension changes and May community/supervision termination changes are operative now. In contrast, commencement of the new probation and associated requirements was moved from 2 September to 1 October 2026 by SI 2026/948; the separate domestic-abuse-finding provision is scheduled for 5 October 2026, and the earned unpaid-work reduction for 18 January 2027, under SI 2026/772. Those scheduled future provisions are not taught as present powers. The Criminal Procedure Rule Committee has also announced amendments principally for 5 October 2026. An exam taking place in January does not itself make every January commencement examinable. Sources: SI 2026/772, regs.3–5, as amended by SI 2026/948; SI 2026/953; Criminal Procedure Rule Committee announcements, 14 August 2026; SRA assessment dates.

Use the chapter actively. Explain the sequence without looking at it, then apply it to a different combination of conviction date, plea stage, court and disputed fact. Repair power errors in sections 1 and 6; seriousness errors in section 2; plea and totality errors in section 3; report and threshold errors in section 4; suspension errors in section 5; Newton errors in section 7; and dangerousness or explanation errors here. The worked examples are teaching, not proof of independent assessment mastery. The existing linked questions and cards remain unchanged pending their separately assigned review.