Sentencing Council launches consultation on sentencing guidelines for modern slavery offences
Draft sentencing guidelines for offenders convicted of modern slavery offences, including slavery, servitude, compulsory labour and trafficking people for exploitation purposes, have been published for consultation today by the Sentencing Council.
The draft guidelines, which apply to adult offenders, cover two main offences under the Modern Slavery Act (MSA) 2015:
- Holding someone in slavery, servitude and forced labour (section 1), including physical restraint or imprisonment, threats or treatment which make escape from their position an impossibility.
- Human trafficking – transporting people for purposes of exploitation (section 2), which may involve recruiting, harbouring, receiving or transferring people cross-border.
The Sentencing Council has published a statistical bulletin and data tables, detailing recent sentencing trends for modern slavery offences.
A press release is available on the Sentencing Council website.