Sentencing
The Sentencing Guidelines Council has issued a "final guideline" in respect of manslaughter by reason of provocation which is classed as a serious offence by section 224 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003. The guideline confirms that a conviction must almost always result in a custodial sentence and that the degree and extent of the provocation must be balanced against the offender's response when determining the appropriate sentence. The more the evidence demonstrates an unpremeditated quality to events, the more the sentence may be mitigated. In this, exposure to long-term abuse has an equivocal quality because the immediate "straw" only assumes significance given the context and the response may have greater qualities of revenge. However, factual scenarios involving attacks made in a family context, attempts to conceal evidence (including concealment of the body), etc. will aggravate the sentence.
Read more about this topic: Provocation In English Law