Sentencing

• During the 2011 riots, two men invited friends on Facebook to start a riot in the town of Northwich
• In 2012 the defendant burgled three houses in Newcastle in five days
• Outcome: D received a two year supervision order with drug rehabilitation and 200 hours unpaid work
• Sentencing Act 2020 s57(2)


  Why do we give offenders sentences?
• Aims of sentencing


  • Punishment of offenders
  • Protection of the public
  • Reduction of crime
  • Reform and rehabilitation of offenders
  • Reparation
• Punishment of offenders


  Based on the idea of PUNISHMENT, contains an element of revenge, does not seek to alter the offenders future behaviour, punishment should be proportionate to the crime
• Punishment of offenders

  • "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and a life for a life", used to justify the death penalty for murder, retribution is now achieved through long custodial sentences, a young woman from Iran (Ameneh Bahrami) was attacked with acid and the courts ordered her attacker to be blinded
• Protection of the public

  Also referred to as incapacitation, protecting the public from dangerous offenders, making offenders incapable of re-offending
• Protection of the public

  • Long prison sentences for violent/sexual crimes, exclusion requirements, curfew requirements, 19 year old Jay found guilty of dangerous driving and seriously injuring 12 pupils on a school bus
• Reduction of crime - deterrence


  Individual deterrence aims to make the experience of punishment so unpleasant that the individual will not re-offend, general deterrence aims to discourage others from committing that type of offence
• Reduction of crime - deterrence


  • Prison sentence, suspended sentence, heavy fine, long prison sentence
• Reform and Rehabilitation


  Aims to reform and rehabilitate the offender, trying to stop the behaviour that caused the crime in the first place, reduce the likelihood of future re-offending, particularly important for young offenders, can lead to inconsistency in sentencing
• Reparation


  Compensating the victim for the harm caused, paying the victim a sum of money, returning stolen property, apologising, compensating society as a whole, unpaid work in the Community
• The leading Act that sets out the aims of sentencing is s57 (2) Sentencing Act 2020
• Sentencing Act 2020 Mitigating Factors: May reduce the sentence
• Aggravating factors


  • Serious offence
  • Teenager - young victim
• Mitigating factors


  • Provoked
  • A dependant
• Mitigating factors


  • Minor injury
  • No previous convictions
  • Remorseful
• Aggravating factors


  • Caused injury
  • Premeditated
  • Previous Convictions
• Mitigating factors


  • Provoked
  • Serious mental illness
• Aggravating factors


  • The defendant has previous convictions
  • The offence was committed whilst on bail
  • The offence is racially or religiously aggravated
  • The offence was premeditated
  • The victim was vulnerable
  • Serious injury was caused
  • The offence was committed by a group or gang
• Mitigating Factors


  • Defendant pleads guilty
  • It is the defendant's first offence
  • The defendant shows remorse
  • The defendant suffers from a mental illness or disability
  • The injury caused is minor
  • The defendant was provoked or acted in self defence
• Guilty Plea


  By pleading guilty at the first possible opportunity a defendant can have a reduction in sentence of up to a third, by pleading guilty at the start of the trial the sentence can be reduced by up to one tenth