91. (1) Sentencing guidelines to be adopted by the Council under section 7 (in this Act referred to as “sentencing guidelines”) may relate to sentencing generally or to sentences in respect of a particular offence, a particular category of offence or a particular category of offender.

(2) A range of sentences may be specified in sentencing guidelines that it is appropriate for a court to consider before imposing sentence on an offender in the proceedings before it.

(3) The Sentencing Guidelines and Information Committee shall, in preparing draft sentencing guidelines, or draft amendments to sentencing guidelines, for submission to the Board and the Board shall, in reviewing such draft guidelines, or such draft amendments, take account of—

(a) sentences that are imposed by the courts,

(b) the need to promote consistency in sentences imposed by the courts,

(c) the impact of decisions of the courts relating to sentences on the victims of the offences concerned,

(d) the need to promote public confidence in the system of criminal justice,

(e) the financial costs involved in the execution of different types of sentence and the relative effectiveness of them in the prevention of re-offending, and

(f) such factors as the Committee or the Board, as the case may be, considers appropriate relating to the offence concerned and the offender committing the offence for the purpose of specifying a range of sentences referred to in subsection (2).