Briefly outline the various sentencing options available to the courts for both over and under 21s.

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Briefly outline the various sentencing options available to the courts for both over and under 21s.

The sentencing options available to courts are based on a number of factors. Firstly, sentencing in the UK commensurate to the crime committed. Second, the severity of sentences available will depend on the authority of the law ‘awarding’ the sentences. Thirdly, the overarching principles of sentencing under the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (CJA 2003) must be observed. Lastly, sentencing options available to the courts are dependent on the age of the defaulter, which will be the dividing criteria of the essay.

 Sentencing based on proportionality of the crime committed is an important characteristic of the English legal system. There exist both mitigating and aggravating factors which may reduce or make the sentence harsher respectively. Examples of mitigating factors on the part of the offender would be remorse in court, previous good character, provocation, leniency of the victim and pleading guilty while examples of aggravating factors include racially motivated crimes, vulnerability of the victim, previous convictions and the crimes general effect on the victim and society.

Different bodies of the law are given different levels of mandate in which to sentence offenders. The most noticeable difference would lie between the severity of sentences awardable by magistrates’ courts and crown courts. In terms of fines, magistrates’ courts are limited to £5000 while crown courts can impose unlimited fines.  

There are four theories of punishment which form the overarching principles of sentencing as stated in the CJA 2003. They are retribution, rehabilitation, deterrence and prevention. These four ‘classical principles’ of sentencing were explicitly mentioned in the Court of Appeal case of R v Sargeant[1974]  where a nightclub bouncer caused an affray and was sentenced a harsher punishment than normal in the name of protection of the public against the violent propensities of the accused.

The age of the offender plays a large part in the range of sentences available to the courts. In 2009, the House of Commons Justice Committee reaffirmed the Youth Rehabilitation Order (YRO), an umbrella term encompassing the various sentencing options available to courts for young offenders. The YRO is based on the Powers of Criminal Courts Sentencing Act 2000 which based punishment of youths strongly on the rehabilitation aspect of the four theories of punishment. As for adult offenders, the range of sentences available to courts can be divided into four groups. They are custodial sentences, community orders, fines and miscellaneous sentences.

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Custodial Sentence -

  • Mandatory life sentence – the only sentence a judge can impose for murder, the judge can still state the minimum number of years’ imprisonment before being eligible for release on license. The minimum term and conditions for full life term sentence is governed by the CJA 2003.
  • Discretionary life sentence – for other serious offenses like rape, manslaughter and robbery. The judge MAY impose a life sentence but can use his discretionary powers to give a lesser sentence where appropriate.
  • Fixed-term sentence – imprisonment for a set number of months and/or years is called fixed-term sentence, ...

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Overall, this is an accurate and comprehensive outline of the different sentences available to the courts for both adult and young offenders. It fully addresses the question. Perhaps it should be written in text form rather than using bullet points, which are considered appropriate for notes, rather than a full answer. Rating****