Sentencing represents the apex of the criminal process and is the most public stage of the criminal justice system. Controversial sentences attract widespread media coverage, intense public interest, and much public and political criticism. This chapter explores sentencing in the United Kingdom, and draws some conclusions with relevance to other common law jurisdictions. Sentencing has changed greatly in recent years, notably through the introduction of sentencing guidelines in England and Wales, and more recently, Scotland. However, there are still doubts about the fairness and consistency of sentencing practice, not least in the use of imprisonment. Among the key issues to be examined in this chapter are the tendency towards net-widening, the effects of race and gender, the impact of pleading guilty, the use of indeterminate sentences, the rise of mandatory sentences, and the role of the victim in the sentencing process. The chapter begins by outlining the methods by which cases come before the courts for sentencing. It then summarizes the specific sentences available to courts and examines current sentencing patterns, before turning to a more detailed exploration of sentencing guidelines, and of the key issues identified above. The chapter addresses two critical questions: What is sentencing (namely who exerts the power to punish)? Does sentencing in the UK measure up to appropriate standards of fairness and consistency?
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This chapter examines the ways in which sentencing discretion is limited: a sentencing system in which there were no controls on how the judge or magistrate came to a decision on sentence would not be a principled system and could lead to injustice in individual cases. This chapter, therefore, examines the ways in which sentencing discretion is constrained, not only through law and guidance but also through the use of a justificatory principle as a constraint. In particular, it reviews the development of new forms of sentencing guidance, notably the definitive guidelines produced by the Sentencing Council, and discusses in detail the importance of a retributivist rationale. It explains classical retributivism, with a focus on Kant and Hegel, as well as modern retributivism.
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This chapter explains the aims of sentencing and types of sentence that may be imposed upon a convicted offender. The main sentencing options that are available to a court when an adult is convicted of a criminal offence include: absolute and conditional discharges, fines, community orders, and imprisonment. Custodial sentences include extended determinate sentences, the new sentence for offenders of particular concern, and life sentences. A custodial sentence has punishment as its primary purpose, whereas a community order focuses more on reform and rehabilitation. The chapter also outlines the key types of sentence that can be imposed upon youths and discusses restorative justice initiatives. It explores the various factors to which the judge or magistrates must have regard when passing sentence, including maximum/minimum sentences, the nature and seriousness of the offence, sentencing guidelines, and pre-sentence reports.
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This chapter explains the aims of sentencing and discusses the types of sentence that may be imposed upon a convicted offender. The main sentencing options available to a court when an adult is convicted of a criminal offence include: absolute and conditional discharges, fines, community orders, and imprisonment. Custodial sentences include extended determinate sentences, the new sentence for offenders of particular concern, and life sentences. A custodial sentence has punishment as its primary purpose, whereas a community order focuses on reform and rehabilitation. The chapter outlines the key types of sentence that can be imposed upon youth offenders and discusses restorative justice initiatives. It explores the factors to which the judge or magistrates must have regard when passing sentence, including maximum/minimum sentences, the nature and seriousness of the offence, sentencing guidelines and pre-sentence reports.
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Seriousness and proportionality are key concepts in the ‘just deserts’ approach to sentencing which was endorsed by the Criminal Justice Act 1991. This chapter analyses the extent to which this sentencing framework with retributivist principles has been undermined by subsequent changes in legislation, notably the Criminal Justice Act 2003, and by amendments to that Act. It examines law and guidance on constructing seriousness, particularly in relation to harm and culpability, and on determining a commensurate sentence. It illustrates issues by using examples from recent guidelines and focuses discussion on examples from custodial sentencing. Finally, the chapter discusses criticisms of modern retributivism.
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This chapter explains the procedure on passing sentence and the general principles that govern a court’s decision when passing sentence. It discusses the role of the Crow Prosecution Service (CPS) on sentence; the procedure on sentencing; hierarchy of sentences; sentencing aims; the basis of sentencing under the Criminal Justice Act 2003; Sentencing Council for England and Wales; sentencing guidelines in the Crown Court; how the defence solicitor assesses the seriousness of an offence; Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Guidelines (MCSGs); the importance of the pre—sentence report, personal offender mitigation; discount for timely guilty pleas; the Crown Court’s sentencing powers; victim impact statements; and taking other offences into consideration.
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Martin Hannibal and Lisa Mountford
This chapter explains the procedure on passing sentence and the general principles that govern a court’s decision when passing sentence. It discusses the role of the Crow Prosecution Service (CPS) on sentence; the procedure on sentencing; hierarchy of sentences; sentencing aims; the basis of sentencing under the Criminal Justice Act 2003; Sentencing Council for England and Wales; sentencing guidelines in the Crown Court; how the defence solicitor assesses the seriousness of an offence; Magistrates’ Court Sentencing Guidelines (MCSGs); the importance of the pre—sentence report, personal offender mitigation; discount for timely guilty pleas; the Crown Court’s sentencing powers; victim impact statements; and taking other offences into consideration.
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Stuart Bell, Donald McGillivray, Ole W. Pedersen, Emma Lees, and Elen Stokes
This chapter is concerned with environmental crime and the enforcement of environmental law. It starts with some consideration of the difficult definition of ‘environmental crime’, including the distinction between moral and legal meanings of the term. Some of the basic framework of environmental crime, which helps to explain several of the approaches to the enforcement of environmental regulation, is then considered. For example, the fact that many environmental crimes are strict liability offences explains why the rate of successful prosecutions is high, but may also provide an explanation as to why some consider the sanctions that are imposed by the courts to be too low. A large part of the chapter is dedicated to a discussion of the enforcement practices adopted by regulatory agencies in England and Wales, including discussion of the use of civil sanctions instead of prosecutions and the recently enacted sentencing guidelines for environmental offences.
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Susan Easton and Christine Piper
Sentencing and Punishment provides an accessible account of recent developments in sentencing and punishment from the standpoint of penal theories, policy aims, punishment practice, and human rights. It reviews changing ideas on what counts as ‘just’ punishment, and covers the key themes and topics studied on sentencing and punishment courses, New features of this, its fourth edition, include a focus on changes and continuities in penal and sentencing policy since 2010 as well as greater attention to sentencing guidelines and to the impact of the relevant sentencing provisions in force since the last edition, notably the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 and the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015. Material on dangerous offenders is also updated. In two new chapters—‘Instead of punishment?’ and ‘Impact on victims and offenders’—this edition brings together different, yet linked, areas of sentencing law and practice to provide new perspectives, and in restructured chapters on community punishment and young offenders, it focuses on such recent developments as the privatisation of the delivery of community penalties, the ‘rehabilitation revolution’, and the decreased use of custody for young offenders. This edition also gives more attention to the continuing influence of human rights law and jurisprudence and incorporates more material on the impact of the Equality Act 2010 on the treatment of different groups within the prison population. It also now includes case studies and discussion questions at the end of each chapter.
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Either-way offences include assault occasioning actual bodily harm, theft, and burglary. These offences can be committed with varying degrees of seriousness depending on the aggravating or mitigating features in the particular case. The more aggravating features, the more serious the offence will be regarded. This chapter examines the procedure for deciding where an either-way offence should be tried which includes the plea before venue and allocation procedure; the relative merits of summary trial and trial on indictment; and for those either-way offences that are to be tried in the Crown Court, the next stage of the proceedings.
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Martin Hannibal and Lisa Mountford
Either-way offences include assault occasioning actual bodily harm, theft, and burglary. These offences can be committed with varying degrees of seriousness depending on the aggravating or mitigating features in the particular case. The more aggravating features, the more serious the offence will be regarded. This chapter examines the procedure for deciding where an either-way offence should be tried which includes the plea before venue and allocation procedure; the relative merits of summary trial and trial on indictment; and for those either-way offences that are to be tried in the Crown Court, the next stage of the proceedings.
