A Critique of Sentencing Outcomes

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Punishment for crimes committed has been the focus of much public debate for many years with individuals seeing different objectives with the public preferring a more punitive objective of punishment and deterrence from crime (Hough, Roberts, Jacobson, Moon and Steel, 2009). From this and through research completed by Lord Ashcroft (2011), it can be deduced that the general public are in favour of custodial sentences rather than a rehabilitative disposal. In developing sentencing guidelines, a consultation is undertaken with criminal justice professionals and the wider public over a 12 week period before the final sentencing guidelines are produced and implemented. This essay will go on to examine the sentencing passed for two case studies and link in with the philosophies of punishment, the aggravating and mitigating factors in each case and the proportionality of the sentence passed.

The philosophy of punishment can be defined under five headings. Deterrence which is linked in to individual’s fear of apprehension or punishment; incapacitation; reform which is the idea that punishment can assist the offender in desisting from offending in the future which can also be linked into the rehabilitation and reintegration of the individual, and finally, denunciation which is linked to the public’s detestation of crime. (Cavadino and Dignan, 2007).

Both case studies that will be discussed within this paper relate to offences of assault. In moving forward, it is important to identify what is meant by assault. Whilst there is no official definition of assault within UK law, it can be defined within the Cambridge Dictionary as “a threat to injure someone followed by a violent attack on them”. Expanding on this, the threat can...

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...me in Maguire, M, Morgan, R and Reiner, R (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Criminology, 5th edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Hough, M., Roberts, J., Jacobson, J., Moon, N., and Steel, N. (2009). Public Attitudes to the Principles of Sentencing (Research Report 6). London: Sentencing Advisory Panel.

Prison Reform Trust, (2013). Why focus on reducing women’s imprisonment. Retrieved from: http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/Portals/0/Documents/Why%20focus%20on%20women%20in%20prison%20-%20Oct%202013.pdf?dm_i=47L,1X4PH,7MIJ3Q,6W4KY,1

Womeninprison.org, (2013). Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.womeninprison.org.uk/statistics.php

York Press, (2014, January 5th). Man assaults police officer after urinating on pub carpets. York Press. Retrieved from http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/10915071.Man_assaults_police_officer_after_urinating_on_pub_carpets/

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