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English and Welsh courts are to administer
harsher sentences to death drivers - 16th July 2008
The courts of England and Wales are being
told to give more custodial sentences to those who are convicted
of causing death while driving, and in the most serious cases to
give longer sentences to those at fault for these
road accidents deaths.
For more serious cases such as persistent
bad driving, persistent drug and drink drive offences where the
driver is responsible for a fatal
road accident a jail term of up to 14 years could be given.
Drivers who cause death while driving and using a mobile phone,
could be sentenced to for up to seven years in prison.
The Sentencing Guidelines Council has new
recommendations for magistrates and judges; they are the charges
for causing death by dangerous driving which carries a sentence
of up to 14 years in prison, and the lesser offence of causing
death by careless driving which is likely to carry a sentence of
up to three years in prison. Judges and magistrates are also
being reminded that driving bans will only be effective if they
last longer than the jail term.
The penalty for unlicensed, disqualified or
uninsured driver accidents resulting in death will carry a
maximum of two years in prison.
Brake
chief executive Mary Williams described the sentencing structure
as "inadequate", though she was "delighted" that more dangerous
drivers would be sent to prison.
She added: "We have got this difference
between careless driving and dangerous driving which is a very,
very tiny difference and yet the guidelines are saying that
somebody convicted of death by careless driving would be jailed
for up to three years, compared to the maximum sentence for
death by dangerous driving of 14 years. "The penalty for the new
charge of killing while unlicensed or disqualified is only two
years, compared to a mandatory minimum of five years for
possessing an illegal firearm."
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