DANGEROUS DOGS ACT REVISION 1 JULY 2016
DANGEROUS DOGS ACT – REVISION OF THE ACT 1 JULY 2016
New Sentencing Guidelines for Dangerous Dogs Act
New sentencing guidelines for dangerous dog offences come into force from 1 July 2016 and apply to all cases sentenced after that date.
It is the first update since 12 August 2012 and reflect the changes made to the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 on 13 May 2014.
The DDA (Section 3(1)) refers to the part of the Act regarding an owner or person in charge of a dog ‘dangerously out of control’ in any place in England or Wales (whether or not a public place) – so it is important for all dogs owners to be well read on this subject.
In a Section 3 aggravated case:-
- Courts are now required to take additional factors into account, for example, it is a case of high culpability if the dog had been trained to be aggressive.
- Some factors have been removed, For example, it is no longer a case of high culpability if it was a vulnerable victim (although this will still be regarded as an aggravating feature).
- There is now a medium culpability (as opposed to just high or lesser), such as if the offender failed to take measures where an incident could reasonably have been foreseen.
- The sentencing starting points and ranges have been changed.
The full Guidelines document can be found at: https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Dangerous-dog-offences-Definitive-Guideline-web.pdf
With thanks and acknowledgement to www.doglaw.co.uk for their update on this subject.
Sally Bartlett
www.co-operativecanines.co.uk