Totality Principle
The principle that when an offender is sentenced for multiple offences, the overall sentence must be just and proportionate to the totality of the offending behaviour. The court must 'step back' and consider whether consecutive sentences produce a crushing total.
Independent editorial summary — not the official statute text. Read the official version on legislation.gov.uk.
The Sentencing Council's totality guideline sets out the overriding principle that governs sentencing for more than one offence: when sentencing for more than one offence, the overriding principle of totality is that the overall sentence should reflect all the offending behaviour and be just and proportionate.
The guideline warns against simply adding up notional sentences for each offence. If consecutive, it is usually impossible to arrive at a just and proportionate sentence simply by adding together notional single sentences — ordinarily some downward adjustment is required, so that the total the offender actually serves reflects the overall criminality rather than the sum of its parts.
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Official sources
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