NCJ Number
140850
Date Published
1991
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Britain's 1991 Criminal Justice Act (CJA), which will take effect in October 1992, mandates new statutory criteria for the use of custodial sentences; this paper examines the impact of these statutory criteria on the use of custody for young offenders and the changes made by the 1991 legislation.
Abstract
Section 1 of the 1991 CJA stipulates that a court shall not impose a custodial sentence unless it is of the opinion "that the offense, or the combination of the offense and one other offense associated with it, was so serious that only such a sentence can be justified for the offense; or where the offense is a violent or sexual offense, that only such a sentence would be adequate to protect the public from serious harm from him." Section 2 of the act contains criteria that govern the length of custodial sentences. It stipulates that this should usually be "commensurate with the seriousness of the offense, or the combination of the offense and other offenses associated with it." Section 29 indicates that an offenses may not be regarded as more serious because of any previous convictions of the offender or any failure to respond to previous sentences. Differences between the new legislation and the current criteria for sentencing young offenders are that the new act does not allow custody based on the offender's previous inability or unwillingness to respond to noncustodial penalties, it permits consideration of the combined seriousness of two offenses committed, and the criterion that justifies custody to protect the public from serious harm is limited to violent or sexual offenses. Appended full text of the legislation