Written evidence to be reported to the House

Part of Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 4:15 pm on 16 October 2007.

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Cindy Barnett: I do not think that I will produce a particular offence, but let us say that an offence has been committed that is obviously serious and we are considering what to do about it. We must assess the seriousness in terms of both culpability and harm. We add those two together, with culpability being the driving force, and we come to the conclusion that the offence is so serious that a custodial sentence is the only one that can be justified—nothing lower can be justified. That is a provisional view.

Then you reconsider and you may hear personal mitigation and there may be further information. Whatever it is, you are still considering after your provisional sentence and you consider—this is not only in the Act, but in guidance from the Sentencing Guidelines Council—whether or not you can step back over the custody threshold and impose a high-end community sentence. You may then come to the conclusion that, no, the offence is so serious that only custody can do. Therefore, you are prepared to commit the person to immediate custody.

Then the next question that you ask yourself is this: can you suspend the sentence? Again, that is stepping back, and it is very close to—it looks very close to—a high-end community sentence. The guidance is that the requirements that you attach to a suspended sentence order should be fewer or less onerous than those that would be attached if it were a high-end community order itself, because there is the threat of prison—because you have imposed a custodial sentence—and because the consequences of breach are liable to be different, with the immediate sentence being activated upon breach as opposed to more requirements being given if it were a community sentence.