NCJ Number
100123
Date Published
1985
Length
547 pages
Annotation
This text summarizes British statutes and cases dealing with the choice and execution of sentences, reviews theories of sentencing law, and describes the practical problems encountered by persons supplying sentencing information or implementing sentences.
Abstract
Part 1 addresses general aspects of sentencing in Great Britain: The information needed, the relevance or irrelevance of explanations, aggravating and mitigating circumstances, and theories of sentencing goals. Imprisonment sentences are discussed in Part 2, including constraints on their use, effects (real or imagined), prison discipline, prisoners' rights, and various release modes. In reviewing noncustodial measures, Part 3 considers diversion, financial sanctions, and supervisory orders. Special attention is given to the requirements and philosophies of supervision as well as the control of stigma. Part 4 discusses special categories of offenders for which the law makes special provisions: Foreign offenders, young adults, the mentally disordered offender, the dangerous offender, and traffic offenders. The final section comments on anomalies and unnecessary complications in sentencing. The appendixes contain detailed discussions and statements on sentencing in the United Kingdom. Tables of statutes and cases are provided, along with a subject index.