Rejected petition Appeal for Increasing Matthew Donald Snepp's Prison Sentence

Matthew Donald Snepp's prison sentence should be extended due to his serious crimes. He was sentenced to eight and a half years for creating 45 Snapchat accounts to groom and sexually exploit vulnerable teenage girls in Jersey. Calls are made for a longer prison term to ensure justice is served

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Matthew Snepp, 32, was sentenced to eight years and six months in prison for grooming and sexual offences against children via Snapchat. He faced seven charges, and many believe a longer sentence is necessary. The bravery of the victims was crucial in securing justice. It is important to keep offenders off the streets to protect victims from future harm. Increase his sentence length. Eight years and six months is not enough for what he has done.

This petition was rejected

Why was this petition rejected?

It’s about something that Ministers or the States Assembly is not responsible for.

It's an important principle that the States Assembly, as the Island's legislature, does not interfere with the sentences passed by the court. There is a process whereby the Attorney General may refer an apparently lenient sentence to the Court of Appeal for consideration if he thinks that the Royal Court "erred in law as to its powers of sentencing" or "failed to impose a sentence which it was required by law to impose". However, it would not be appropriate for the States Assembly to instruct or request the Attorney General to do this. The Assembly is responsible for the overall framework of law in this area, including the range of sentences which may be imposed, but not the sentencing decisions taken in individual cases.
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards (https://statesassembly.je/petitions).

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.