Sentencing Guidelines for HBV and Honour Killings
| Published date | 01 June 2015 |
| Date | 01 June 2015 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022018315586167 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Sentencing Guidelines for
HBV and Honour Killings
Mohammad Mazher Idriss
University of Derby, Derby, UK
Abstract
Honour-Based Violence (HBV) and Honour Killings are crimes committed to salvage the
reputation of families and are usually committed because of the deviant (and usually sexual)
behaviour of a woman is perceived to have brought about shame. Violence, it is believed, must
then be inflicted in order to modify that behaviour and to cleanse the family’s reputation of
dishonour. This article will explore the role of the criminal courts in tackling HBV by appro-
priately punishing those who perpetrate such acts. It will argue that despite the increasing
number of prosecutions in these types of cases, Sentencing Council guidelines are needed not
only to help achieve consistency, but to help to ensure that sentencing judges apply relevant
aggravating and mitigating factors that will lead to the imposition of a proportionate sentence
that is commensurate with the seriousness of the offence. This article will offer proposals and
will examine the main aggravating and mitigating factors a newly devised Sentencing Council
guideline should include.
Keywords
Honour-based violence, sentencing guidelines, judges, aggravating, mitigation
The Prosecuting Authorities and HBV
HBV and forced marriages are crimes currently commanding increasing media, political and academic
attention in the UK.
1
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has specifically published detailed legal gui-
dance on the prosecution of HBV,
2
and recent statistics reveal that 206 defendants in total were
Corresponding author:
Mohammad Mazher Idriss, University of Derby, Derby DE22 1GB, UK.
E-mail: isamaz@yahoo.co.uk
1. See L. Welchman and S. Hossein (eds), ‘Honour’: Crimes, Paradigms and Violence Against Women (Zed Books: London,
2005); M.M. Idriss and T. Abbas (eds), Honour, Violence, Women and Islam (Routledge-Cavendish: London, 2010); A.K. Gill,
C. Strange and K. Roberts (eds), Honour Killing and Violence: Theory, Policy and Practice (Palgrave MacMillan: Hampshire,
2014); and K.A. Roberts, G. Campbell and G. Lloyd, Honor-Based Violence: Policing and Prevention (Taylor and Francis:
Boca Raton, FL, 2014).
2. CPS, Honour-Based Violence and Forced Marriage (Legal Guidance),http://www.cps.gov.uk/legal/h_to_k/honour_ba-
sed_violence_and_forced_marriage/ (accessed 5 March 2015).
The Journal of Criminal Law
2015, Vol. 79(3) 198–210
ªThe Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/0022018315586167
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