NCJ Number
92548
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 23 Issue: 4 Dated: (October 1983) Pages: 381-393
Date Published
1983
Length
13 pages
Annotation
The impact of deferment of sentence, enacted under the Criminal Justice Act of 1972, on Great Britain's penal system, is assessed.
Abstract
Studies conducted by the Home Office Research Unit (1973) and in York (1977) and Bristol (1982-1983) provide the basis for observations of deferment of sentence at the trial. The typical offender for whom sentence is deferred is male, aged 17 to 25, with previous convictions, and already known to the probation and aftercare service. Deferment, used in about 8,000 cases annually, is less popular than probation and supervision (54,000 cases), suspended sentences (38,000), and community service orders (28,000). Responding in a haphazard way to requests for clear guidelines for a sentencing court to follow, the Court of Appeals did recommend that a judge should clarify whether he/she is using statutory power of deferment or one of the common law powers and that sentence should not be deferred if a substantial custodial sentence is probable. Reparation is an important question of principle. The Wootton committee worked hard to refute the claim that deferment of sentence enables an offender to buy his way out of trouble. Another common argument is that deferment of sentence is unnecessary, as other penal dispositions could achieve the same ends. In support of deferment, it involves no unnecessary supervision, and the offender is involved in his own reformation.