The loss of precious photographs or sensitive personal information when a smartphone is stolen will result in tougher sentences for thieves under new guidelines, with less focus on the monetary value of the item.
The sentencing council rules, published on Monday, say sentences should now take into account whether a stolen possession was of substantial value to the loser – regardless of monetary worth and would result in emotional distress or a loss of confidence caused by the crime.
Lord Justice Treacy, the chairman of the sentencing council, said the guidelines would take a more holistic approach to the effects on a victim, rather than focusing purely on traditional factors such as the financial worth of the item or the physical harm to the victim.
He told the Guardian: “Judicial thinking has evolved in part because technology has evolved; people carry their whole lives on their smartphones or other devices, their pictures, their personal message
“We think it’s right that not only the value of the phone, but the emotional distress of losing precious photographs, and the considerable inconvenience that losing a smartphone can cause, should be taken into account when a device is stolen. People will be understandably concerned that their data might be misused as well as lost.”
Magistrates are likely to have taken the sentimental value of items into account previously, Treacy said, but the new guidelines will send a message that the cost of an item is not the only thing valued by the courts.
Another factor that has been emphasised is “disruption caused to infrastructure”, which will mean sentences should take into account the distress and inconvenience caused to passengers stranded on trains due to metal theft, for example.
Treacy said: “For people stuck on mainline train services for hours, missing important meetings or going on holidays, the cost is far greater than the financial cost of replacing the stolen metal.” He pointed to the guidelines for sentencing on abstracting electricity. “People living in rural locations can be left without electricity for hours, sometimes days on end.”
The guidelines also stipulate that harsher penalties should be given to thieves who steal valuable metal from war memorials or loot historic artefacts under another new category for assessing damage to heritage assets.
In August, a thief who desecrated a war memorial in Perthshire that carried the name of his great-grandfather was jailed for a year.
Source : THEGUARDIAN.COM