I retired from the magistracy in 2015 after 17 years mainly as a presiding justice

United Kingdom
My current blog can be accessed at https://thejusticeofthepeaceblog.blogspot.com/

SENTENCING IS AS FASHIONABLE AS WOMENS` HEMLINES

 

06. Jun. 2010. – 13:57:25

"Pleading guilty to the police should be rewarded with a lighter sentence", said Lord Leveson Court of Appeal Judge and chairman of the new Sentencing Council.



John Thornhill, Chairman of the Magistrates` Association, is quoted saying, “If a defendant holds up his hand at the earliest opportunity then I have no problem with credit being given. Whether a guilty plea could be taken at the police station was another matter, but if the court is presented with a defendant who has already admitted guilt, then why not have a more structured scale of discounts to reflect that?”



Lord Justice Leveson wants to review the discounts for guilty pleas to award bigger credit to defendants who admit their crimes even before the first hearing – the idea has potential for saving money in police and court time and helps victims and witnesses. However lawyers share John Thornhill’s caution by warning that unless carefully managed it could put suspects under pressure to plead guilty at crimes that they had not committee and would lead to miscarriages of justice.



Defendants who plead guilty "at the earliest opportunity" are usually allowed one third reduction in their sentence be it financial, unpaid work or custody. If an additional reduction is given for a guilty plea at the police station it could lead to dissimilar sentences for guilty pleas to similar offences by similar defendants where one offender wishes to hedge his options under legal advice. All this is based on the old story of persuading the donkey to get a move on by waving a carrot under its nose. But discussing carrots as incentives for donkeys is akin to rocket engineers discussing propulsion as action; the rocket cannot exist without also including reaction. So with regard to incentivising a donkey`s forward locomotion we need to discuss the corollary and that is a stick to the donkey`s rump if it refuses to move. I would opine that many? most? defendants cannot comprehend reductions in future sentences as they could understand "more". I would suggest we cease reducing sentences for early pleas, good behaviour etc. etc. and make it very clear that sentences will increase if found guilty after a trial vis a vis a guilty plea made early. The sentences themselves could theoretically be tailored to fit as now but the psychological addition of time or money has more significance than the corresponding reduction.



There are traditional “hangers and floggers” and there are so called prison reformers who find difficulty in accepting incarceration for all but the most heinous crimes and offenders. The central majority is following the penal pendulum as it makes its arc swinging from left to right to left to right……………..jumping on and off as opinions change. Who is to say eg that the use of Class A,B and C drugs will not be decriminalised within the next twenty years or that jury trials will be abolished for all indictable only crimes. Sentencing is as much a fashion product as womens` hemlines.


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