Reflections on the Manslaughter Sentencing Guidelines

This article assesses sentencing guidelines recently issued by the Sentencing Council for the offence of manslaughter. The guidelines are considered in the context of escalating sentences for the offence generally, and the statutory reforms to manslaughter made by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 . The article concludes that the guidelines are impressive, sophisticated, and likely to provide flexibility in practice, but that there are unanswered questions about the relationship between manslaughter sentencing and the murder minimum term starting points in Sch.21