Courts decide how criminals should be punished in England and Wales. 80% of offenders receive a fine as punishment. Only 11% of offenders receive some kind of prison sentence.
Sentencing in England and Wales
Sentencing in England and Wales takes place in either a magistrates or crown court.
Magistrates courts deal with less serious offences. These are resided over by a magistrate. Magistrates are just ordinary citizens who take on the role voluntarily. The maximum prison term you can receive from a magistrates court is 6 months.
Crown courts deal with more serious offences. These are resided over by professional judges who have more extensive powers to pass longer jail sentences than magistrates.
When sentencing the court will take into account the following factors:
- How serious it the offence is
- Whether the defendant pleaded guilty or not guilty..
- The defendant’s character, personal circumstance and any criminal record.
Punishments for criminal offences in England and Wales
In England and Wales, there are four main types of sentences for those found guilty of crimes, in order of seriousness….
- Discharges for the least serious offences. 2% of offenders receive a discharge.
- Fines. 80% of offenders receive a fine as a punishment.
- Community sentences. These require an offender to do something. This may be unpaid work, getting treatment for an addition, adhering to a restraining order or avoiding going to a particular place. Only 7% of offenders receive a community sentence.
- Custodial sentences (aka prison). These are only for the most serious offences. 11% of offenders get a custodial sentence.
Discharges
Judges award discharges for the most minor offences. With a discharge the offender is still found guilty and still gets a criminal record.
An offender can receive either an absolute or conditional discharge.
With an absolute discharge the offender is effectively free to go with no further punishment or conditions.
A conditional discharge means if the offender commits another crime they can be sentenced for their first offence along with that one.
Alongside a discharge an offender may also get a disqualification orders, compensation orders, and/ or court costs.
In 2022 only 2% of offenders received a discharge. In fact, with an absolute discharge, going to court is the only real punishment.
Fines
Fines are the most common form of punishment in England and Wales. Judges hand out fines for 80% of offences.
How large a fine will depend on how serious the crime is and the offender’s capacity to pay.
Technically the courts can set unlimited fines, but guidelines for amounts vary for different crimes.
Fines are the most common form of punishment. In 2022 79% of offenders received a fine as a punishment. That’s 831 000 fines in 2022!
Community Sentences
Community sentences involve punishments carried out within the community and require the offender to actively do something.
Examples of community service includes:
- Doing up to 300 hours of unpaid work.
- Taking part in programmes to change behaviour.
- Getting treatment for mental health issues or undertaking rehabilitation for drugs or alcohol.
- Offenders may have to refrain from doing certain things. This may include curfews, avoiding certain places, not travelling abroad.
There are generally three aims for community service: to punish, to change behaviour and to pay back the community.
In 2022 7% of offenders (69 000) received some type of community service as punishment.
Custodial Sentences
Custodial sentences are given for the most serious crimes, such as violent crimes, weapons offences and drug trafficking.
There are different maximum sentences depending on the crime, and some crimes carry minimum custodial terms. For example if you threaten someone with a weapon there is a minimum six month sentence.
Some offences also have a ‘three strike’ rule. For example after your third domestic burglary, the minimum sentence is three years.
There are four types of custodial sentence:
- Suspended sentences. A judge may decide to suspend sentences up to two years. If the offender complies with all conditions set and doesn’t offend again for the term of the sentence they won’t go to jail. If they commit a further offence during their suspended sentence, they will most likely serve the original custodial term.
- Determinate sentences. Here the judge specifies the maximum number of years an offender could spend in jail. For less serious offences of up to four years the offender will typically spend half the term in jail, then be released on license. For offences over four years, offenders will serve two thirds of the time before release on license.
- Extended sentences. These are for more serious offences. Here offenders may apply for parole after they have served two-thirds of their sentence.
- Life sentences. These are for the most serious offences such as murder and terrorism. Here the judge sets a minimum term which depends on the offence. The offender then serves that term and then may apply for parole. They remain ‘on license’ for the rest of their lives and can be recalled to jail at any time. In the most serious cases judges may pass whole life sentences. There are currently 65 people in jail for the rest of their lives.
In 2022 4% of offenders received a suspended sentence, and 6% received a determinate sentence. Only 1% received an extended sentence.
Disposal Orders
For people with limited mental capacity the court may make a disposal order. This is where they are put in a hospital for treatment or under guardianship.
Ancillary Orders
In addition to any of the above punishments, the court may also impose ancillary orders. These are further conditions offenders need to meet.
They include such things as restraining orders, criminal behaviour orders and driving bans.
Signposting
This material is mainly relevant to the A-level sociology Crime and Deviance module.
It should enable students to evaluate sociological perspectives on punishment.