Arson: Sentencing
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will review sentencing guidelines for people convicted of arson, in the context of increased risk of wildfires caused by extreme heat conditions.
Answered by Ministry of Justice
Sentencing guidelines are developed and reviewed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, which also monitors and evaluates all definitive guidelines, as per its statutory duty to do so. These evaluations assess the impact the guideline has had on sentencing outcomes and seek to determine whether the guideline has been implemented as intended, so that any issues can be identified and rectified.
The Sentencing Council produced guidelines for the offence of arson in 2019. The maximum penalty for arson is life imprisonment. Whilst the Government has no current plans to ask the Council to consider reviewing the arson guidelines, it is open to individuals to approach the Council to ask that they do so.
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