New Clause 13 - SENTENCES OF IMPRISONMENT FOR BAIL OFFENCES
Police and Justice Bill
Public Bill Committees, 28 March 2006, 5:15 pm
‘(1)Part 12 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (c.44) (sentencing) is amended as follows.
(2)In section 195 (interpretation of terms used in Chapter 3), for the definition of “sentence of imprisonment” there is substituted— ““sentence of imprisonment” does not include a sentence of imprisonment passed in respect of a summary conviction for an offence under section 6(1) or (2) of the Bail Act 1976.”
(3)In section 237 (meaning of “fixed-term prisoner” for purposes of Chapter 6), after subsection (1) there is inserted—
“(1A)In subsection (1)(a) “sentence of imprisonment” does not include a sentence of imprisonment passed in respect of a summary conviction for an offence under section 6(1) or (2) of the Bail Act 1976.”
(4)In section 257 (additional days for disciplinary offences), after subsection (2) there is inserted—
“(3)For the purposes of this section “fixed-term prisoner” includes a person serving a sentence of imprisonment passed in respect of a summary conviction for an offence under section 6(1) or (2) of the Bail Act 1976.”
(5)In section 258 (early release for fine defaulters and contemnors), after subsection (1) there is inserted—
“(1A)This section also applies to a person serving a sentence of imprisonment passed in respect of a summary conviction for an offence under section 6(1) or (2) of the Bail Act 1976.”
(6)In section 305 (interpretation of Part 12), in paragraph (c) of the definition of “sentence of imprisonment”, at the end there is inserted “(including contempt of court or any kindred offence)”.’. —[Hazel Blears.]
Hazel Blears (Minister of State (Policing, Security and Community Safety), Home Office; Salford, Labour)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
Hazel Blears (Minister of State (Policing, Security and Community Safety), Home Office; Salford, Labour)
Currently, magistrates can sentence offenders to short custodial sentences of up to three months’ imprisonment for failing to attend court or a police station when bailed to do so under the Bail Act 1976. An offender serves half the sentence of imprisonment before being released unconditionally. The new clause is designed to maintain that position once the new sentence of custody plus is commenced. When it is commenced, it will be the only custodial sentence of less than 12 months available to the courts, other than in a very limited number of cases such as contempt of court. It was intended that Bail Act offences should be within the limited exception to custody plus and that courts should still be able to impose short custodial sentences for those offences.
The offence of failing to surrender under section 6 of the Bail Act can be compared to contempt of court in that the purpose of the sentence is punishment, the sentence for the substantive offence being the correct place to address any rehabilitative needs of the offender. However, the Criminal Justice Act 2003 does not expressly exclude Bail Act offences from the custody plus regime. Without the amendment, when custody plus is brought in, the sentencing powers of magistrates courts in relation to Bail Act offences will be unclear. One interpretation is that they could lose their powers to give a custodial sentence for the offence.
In principle, without the amendment, Bail Act offences will be subject to the custody plus regime, but in practice the magistrates courts will not be able to impose a sentence of custody plus. That is because, as it was not the policy intention that custody plus should apply to Bail Act offences, the Criminal Justice Act 2003 does not increase magistrates’ maximum sentencing powers from the existing position of three months for those offences, as it does for other summary offences. As the minimum custody plus sentence is 28 weeks, the magistrates court will not have the power to pass even the minimum custody plus sentence for Bail Act offences. The amendment is, therefore, needed to make it clear that the custody plus regime does not apply to Bail Act offences and that courts will be able to impose short custodial offences for them.
The measure is small but important. If magistrates were unable to impose short sentences for breach of bail, bail would fall into disrepute. That is why the measures should be available to the courts. The most recent figures show that more than 32,000 sentences were passed for failure to attend as the principal offence, and that 4,000 of the offenders were sentenced to immediate custody. The average custodial sentence was some 27 days, while 86 per cent. of those sentenced to custody received a sentence of one month or less. It is a short sentence, but it is a punishment, and it means that bail is taken seriously. One of the most effective things that we can do in our criminal justice system is to ensure that somebody who is bailed but does not turn up or cannot be bothered gets a custodial sentence. It is a useful new clause and I commend it to the Committee.