Six years in jail for failure to stop female genital mutilation

Excerpt:

Parents and carers who fail to protect children from the risk of female genital mutilation could be jailed for up to six years in jail under guidelines released today.

It is the first time the Sentencing Council has covered how courts should deal with the offences of causing or allowing a child to die or suffer serious physical harm. There is also a new aggravating factor that would increase the penalty where one parent or carer tries to blame another in an attempt to avoid prosecution.

The guidelines are intended to ensure consistency in the courts in what is a complex area of sentencing, the council says.

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