Sentencing and Criminal Justice

Andrew Ashworth is Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom.Rory Kelly is Lecturer in Criminal Evidence and Criminal Law at UCL Faculty of Laws, United Kingdom.

This book is the best introduction to the English sentencing system for undergraduate and postgraduate students, but it also provides a scholarly analysis of the issues which is of great use to academic researchers (and, indeed, to practitioners and the courts). In particular, the analysis of guidelines, case law and recent academic writing on sentencing theory, law and practice is second to none. The book is clearly written, and extensive references are provided throughout. The authoritative nature of this book, and its value for practitioners in common law jurisdictions outside of England and Wales, is demonstrated by the fact that previous editions of the book have been cited with approval on several occasions by the High Court of Justiciary on Appeal in Scotland. The seventh edition continues this exceptional level of scholarship.

• 1. An Introduction to English Sentencing 1.1. Courts and Crimes 1.2. The Available Sentences 1.3. The General Statistical Background 1.4. What is Sentencing? 1.5. The Principal Sources of Sentencing Law 1.6. Conclusions 2. Sentencing, the Sentencing Council and the Constitution 2.1. The Separation of Powers in Sentencing 2.2. The Constitutional Position of the Sentencing Council 2.3. The Judiciary, the Executive and Sentencing Policy 2.4. The Judicial College 2.5. The Position of the Magistracy 2.6. European Union Law 2.7. The European Convention on Human Rights 2.8. Conclusions 3. Sentencing Aims, Principles and Policies 3.1. The Aims of the Criminal Justice System 3.2. The Role of the State 3.3. The Rationales of Sentencing 3.4. Some Principles and Policies 3.5. Sentencing Rationales in Practice: Deterrence 3.6. The Role of Public Opinion 3.7. Conclusions 4. Proportionality and Seriousness 4.1. The Proportionality Principle 4.2. Opinions about Offence-seriousness 4.3. Developing Parameters of Ordinal Proportionality 4.4. Offence-seriousness in Practice 4.5. Individual Culpability 4.6. Proportionality and Offence-seriousness 5. Aggravation and Mitigation 5.1. Some Preliminary Problems of Principle 5.2. Aggravation as Increased Seriousness 5.3. Mitigation as Diminished Seriousness 5.4. Personal Mitigation 5.5. Assisting the Criminal Justice System 5.6. Mitigation and Aggravation in Practice 5.7. Conclusions 6. Equality Before the Law 6.1. The Principle and its Challengers 6.2. Race 6.3. Gender 6.4. Employment Status 6.5. Financial Circumstances 6.6. Social Status 6.7. Equality, Parsimony and Risk 7. Custodial Sentencing 7.1. The State of the Prisons 7.2. The Use of Imprisonment7.3. Principles for the Use of Custodial Sentences 7.4. On the Cusp of Custody 7.5. Medium-to-Long Custodial Sentences: Release on Licence 7.6. Long Custodial Sentences 7.7. Conclusions 8. Non-custodial Sentencing 8.1. A Brief History 8.2. The Absolute Discharge 8.3. Conditional Discharges and Bind-overs 8.4. Compensation Orders 8.5. Fines 8.6. The Community Sentence 8.7. Deferment of Sentence 8.8. Conclusions 9. Persistence, Prevention and Dangerousness 9.1. Historical Introduction 9.2. Four Approaches to Punishing Persistence 9.3. Previous Convictions and the Current Law 9.4. The Problem of ‘Professional’ Criminals 9.5. Persistent Petty Offenders 9.6. Behaviour Orders 9.7. Minimum Sentences9.8. Sentencing ‘Dangerous Offenders’ 9.9. Conclusion10. Multiple Offenders and Totality 10.1. Charging the Multiple Offender 10.2. The Problems of Sentencing Multiple Offenders 10.3. Guidelines on Sentencing Multiple Offenders 10.4. Totality: Time for a Fresh Start? 11. Behaviour Orders and Ancillary Orders 11.1. Outlining the Current Law 11.2. Prevention, Punishment and the ASBO 11.3. Behaviour Orders on Conviction 11.4. Behaviour Orders on Application 11.5. Ancillary Orders 11.6. Revisiting the Nature of the Orders 11.7. Sentencing for Breach of a Behaviour Order 12. Special Sentencing Powers 12.1. Young Offenders 12.2. Young Adult Offenders 12.3. Mentally Disordered Offenders 13. Procedural Issues at Sentencing 13.1. The Factual Basis for Sentencing 13.2. The Defendant’s Record 13.3. The Role of the Prosecution 13.4. Pre-sentence Reports 13.5. Defence Speech in Mitigation 13.6. The Obligation to Give Reasons for Sentence 13.7. The Role of the Victim 14. Sentencing, Guidelines and the Punitive State 14.1. The Responsibility of Sentencing 14.2. Rule-of-law Values, Discretion and Guidelines 14.3. Guidelines and Penal Moderation 14.4. Risk, Prevention and Public Protection 14.5. Stepping Back from the Punitive State