Legislation – Sentencing Act 2020
Changes to legislation:
Sentencing Act 2020, Section 7 is up to date with all changes known to be in force on or before 07 April 2026. There are changes that may be brought into force at a future date. Changes that have been made appear in the content and are referenced with annotations.![]()
Changes to Legislation
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SECOND GROUP OF PARTSProvisions applying to sentencing courts generally
PART 2Powers exercisable before passing sentence
CHAPTER 1Deferment of sentence
7Restorative justice requirements
(1)
Any reference in this Chapter to a restorative justice requirement is to a requirement to participate in an activity—
(a)
where the participants consist of, or include, the offender and one or more of the victims,
(b)
which aims to maximise the offender’s awareness of the impact of the offending concerned on the victims, and
(c)
which gives an opportunity to a victim or victims to talk about, or by other means express experience of, the offending and its impact.
(2)
A restorative justice requirement may not be imposed as a deferment requirement without the consent of every person who would be a participant in the activity.
(3)
For the purposes of subsection (2), a supervisor and the offender do not count as proposed participants.
(4)
A person running an activity for the purposes of a restorative justice requirement must have regard to any guidance issued from time to time by the Secretary of State with a view to encouraging good practice in connection with such an activity.
(5)
In this section “victim” means a victim of, or other person affected by, the offending concerned.