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Introduction |
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Between 2003 and 2004 the activity in court changed:
more offences were brought to justice more people were tried however fewer
people were sentenced to custody and more anti-social behaviour orders
(ASBOs) were ordered.
Over 2 million people (2,037,000) were proceeded
against at court in 2004 (around 2,001,000 in 2003) about ¾ of these were
dealt with in Magistrate’s courts.
Of these around over 61,000 were sentenced to custody
2,293 were made subject to Antisocial behaviour orders (ASBOs).
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30 percent discount in sentence for early
guilty plea |
Where a defendant indicates that he wishes to plead guilty he will receive a
discount off his sentence of 30 percent.
The idea is to encourage guilty defendants to admit their guilt and avoid
the need for a trial. Trials are expensive and time consuming.
Sometimes a defendant will change his plea just before trial or during the
trial, these are known as "cracked trials".
The guilty plea has to be made at the first available opportunity, not at
some later stage (R v Wilson, The Times 12 February 2004)
More here |
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Variations in sentencing |
There is a huge variation in the sentences
imposed by different courts; for example in Sunderland 36.4% of offenders
are discharged compared with 9.2% in Birmingham. Newspaper report
here. |
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Problems with sentencing |
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Plea bargaining |
There are proposals in the Auld Report on plea
bargaining and “sentence indication” first made by the
Royal Commission on Criminal Justice in 1993.
There is no reference to these proposals in the CJA,
but the Attorney-General issued new “Guidelines on the Acceptance of
Pleas” in December 2000 and it remains unclear to what extent they are
followed in practice.
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The role of the sentencer |
There is clear evidence that of inconsistencies in
sentencing between courts both locally and across the UK. There is a
constant tension between the judiciary and the executive with repeated
attempts to limit judicial discretion, for example minimum sentences and
sentencing guidelines and the creation of the Judicial Studies Board, argued
by the executive that it was well overdue.
The government for political as well as to do justice
continually changes sentencing policy and sometimes introduces sentences
that are simply unworkable, the unit fine scheme was an example.
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Racism |
There is a known to be institutional racism
in the police and the CPS, and it is suspected in the judiciary.
There is considerable research suggesting
that there is a disproportionate proportion of black and minority ethics (BME) in prison compared with the total population, either because of racism or
alternatively because the groups represented commit more crime, or are
caught more often (for whatever reason).
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Sexism |
Women make up about 5% of prison numbers (many of
them drug couriers).
Sentencing of women is inconsistent with sentences
for men, this is either due to the “women shouldn’t behave like that”
approach or because sentencers do not wish to disrupt family structures
that they perceive to be held together by the woman.
Many women are in prison for theft and drugs offences
who are arguably receiving an unsuitable punishment.
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Mentally ill |
There are significantly more people with mental illness in prison than in
the population at large.
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