aims of sentencing

• s57 (2) sentencing act 2020

  the court must have regard to :

  • the punishment of offenders
  • the reduction of crime including its reduction by deterrence
  • the reform and rehabilitation of offenders
  • the protection of the public
  • the making of reparation by offenders to persons affected by their offences
• punishment can also be referred to as retribution it is about taking revenge on behalf of both the victim and society
• deterrence is the idea of preventing people committing crimes in future, general deterrence refers to putting the general public off committing crimes (e.g. the harsh sentence imposed by magistrates following the London riots in 2011) whereas individual deterrence is concerned with putting individuals off re offending (e.g detention centre orders under the criminal justice act 1982)
• Critics of deterrence point out that it doesn’t work if the offender thinks he won’t be caught or the offender does not stop to consider the consequence of his actions
• The aim of rehabilitation is to reform the offender and try to cure his criminal behaviour however rehabilitation is very difficult to achieve in our overcrowded prisons
• public protection is aimed at preventing the offender from harming the public it applies particularly to crimes of a violent or sexual nature. This can be achieved by imposing a custodial sentence, although prison is very expensive
• reparation also known as restorative justice is about offenders providing remedies to their victims the community victims can be paid compensation receive letters of apology and have a say in how the harm they have suffered can be put right offenders can also do unpaid work in the community