Sentencing and Criminal Justice

This revised and updated new edition focuses on major developments in sentencing law, practice and theory. Sentencing in England and Wales is now dominated by Sentencing Council guidelines, and scrutiny of those guidelines is central to this book. Issues of principle are identified and discussed, to include the constitutional position of the Sentencing Council; the meaning of, and challenges to, proportionality; and the sentencing of BAME offenders and women offenders.

The book welcomes the new Sentencing Code, introduced as the Sentencing Act 2020, and critically examines the government's plans for sentencing reform, set out in the 2020 White Paper A Smarter Approach to Sentencing. Throughout the book, sentencing is explored in its wider criminal justice context - making it essential reading for courses on sentencing, criminal justice and criminal law.

List of contents

1. An Introduction to English Sentencing
1.1. Courts and Crimes
1.2. The Available Sentences
1.3. The General Statistical Background
1.4. What is Sentencing?
1.5. The Principal Sources of Sentencing Law
1.6. Conclusions
2. Sentencing, the Sentencing Council and the Constitution
2.1. The Separation of Powers in Sentencing
2.2. The Constitutional Position of the Sentencing Council
2.3. The Judiciary, the Executive and Sentencing Policy
2.4. The Judicial College
2.5. The Position of the Magistracy
2.6. European Union Law
2.7. The European Convention on Human Rights
2.8. Conclusions
3. Sentencing Aims, Principles and Policies
3.1. The Aims of the Criminal Justice System
3.2. The Role of the State
3.3. The Rationales of Sentencing
3.4. Some Principles and Policies
3.5. Sentencing Rationales in Practice: Deterrence
3.6. The Role of Public Opinion
3.7. Conclusions
4. Proportionality and Seriousness
4.1. The Proportionality Principle
4.2. Opinions about Offence-seriousness
4.3. Developing Parameters of Ordinal Proportionality
4.4. Offence-seriousness in Practice
4.5. Individual Culpability
4.6. Proportionality and Offence-seriousness
5. Aggravation and Mitigation
5.1. Some Preliminary Problems of Principle
5.2. Aggravation as Increased Seriousness
5.3. Mitigation as Diminished Seriousness
5.4. Personal Mitigation
5.5. Assisting the Criminal Justice System
5.6. Mitigation and Aggravation in Practice
5.7. Conclusions
6. Equality Before the Law
6.1. The Principle and its Challengers
6.2. Race
6.3. Gender
6.4. Employment Status
6.5. Financial Circumstances
6.6. Social Status
6.7. Equality, Parsimony and Risk
7. Custodial Sentencing
7.1. The State of the Prisons
7.2. The Use of Imprisonment
7.3. Principles for the Use of Custodial Sentences
7.4. On the Cusp of Custody
7.5. Medium-to-Long Custodial Sentences: Release on Licence
7.6. Long Custodial Sentences
7.7. Conclusions
8. Non-custodial Sentencing
8.1. A Brief History
8.2. The Absolute Discharge
8.3. Conditional Discharges and Bind-overs
8.4. Compensation Orders
8.5. Fines
8.6. The Community Sentence
8.7. Deferment of Sentence
8.8. Conclusions
9. Persistence, Prevention and Dangerousness
9.1. Historical Introduction
9.2. Four Approaches to Punishing Persistence
9.3. Previous Convictions and the Current Law
9.4. The Problem of 'Professional' Criminals
9.5. Persistent Petty Offenders
9.6. Behaviour Orders
9.7. Minimum Sentences
9.8. Sentencing 'Dangerous Offenders'
9.9. Conclusion
10. Multiple Offenders and Totality
10.1. Charging the Multiple Offender
10.2. The Problems of Sentencing Multiple Offenders
10.3. Guidelines on Sentencing Multiple Offenders
10.4. Totality: Time for a Fresh Start?
11. Behaviour Orders and Ancillary Orders
11.1. Outlining the Current Law
11.2. Prevention, Punishment and the ASBO
11.3. Behaviour Orders on Conviction
11.4. Behaviour Orders on Application
11.5. Ancillary Orders
11.6. Revisiting the Nature of the Orders
11.7. Sentencing for Breach of a Behaviour Order
12. Special Sentencing Powers
12.1. Young Offenders
12.2. Young Adult Offenders
12.3. Mentally Disordered Offenders
13. Procedural Issues at Sentencing
13.1. The Factual Basis for Sentencing
13.2. The Defendant's Record
13.3. The Role of the Prosecution
13.4. Pre-sentence Reports
13.5. Defence Speech in Mitigation
13.6. The Obligation to Give Reasons for Sentence
13.7. The Role of the Victim
14. Sentencing, Guidelines and the Punitive State
14.1. The Responsibility of Sentencing
14.2. Rule-of-law Values, Discretion and Guidelines
14.3. Guidelines and Penal Moderation
14.4. Risk, Prevention and Public Protection
14.5. Stepping Back from the Punitive State

About the author

Andrew Ashworth CBE KC FBA is Vinerian Professor Emeritus of English Law in the University of Oxford UK and Emeritus Fellow of All Souls College.

Photo courtesy of Faculty of Law, University of Oxford.

Summary

This revised and updated new edition focuses on major developments in sentencing law, practice and theory. Sentencing in England and Wales is now dominated by Sentencing Council guidelines, and scrutiny of those guidelines is central to this book. Issues of principle are identified and discussed, to include the constitutional position of the Sentencing Council; the meaning of, and challenges to, proportionality; and the sentencing of BAME offenders and women offenders.

The book welcomes the new Sentencing Code, introduced as the Sentencing Act 2020, and critically examines the government’s plans for sentencing reform, set out in the 2020 White Paper A Smarter Approach to Sentencing. Throughout the book, sentencing is explored in its wider criminal justice context – making it essential reading for courses on sentencing, criminal justice and criminal law.

Foreword

The seminal guide to sentencing in England and Wales by the leading authority on the question.

Additional text

This is an excellent resource, particularly on sentencing law...Students will find the detail and well written critical analysis very assistive to their understandings of complex criminal justice and the theory and applications of sentencing law.

Product details

• Authors: Ashworth Andrew Ashworth, Andrew Ashworth, Ashworth Andrew, ASHWORTH ANDREW J, Rory Kelly, Rory (UCL Faculty of Laws Kelly, Kelly Rory, Kelly Rory Kelly
• Publisher: Hart Publishing
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.08.2021
• EAN: 9781509936281
• ISBN: 978-1-5099-3628-1
• No. of pages: 536
• Dimensions: 165 mm x 239 mm x 28 mm
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Law > International law, foreign law; England, LAW / Criminal Law / General, Criminal justice law