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XCR(70)345
(h) Clause 11 will introduce 5 new sections dealing with
suspended prison sentences. These provisions are discussed in paragraphs 3 to 6 below.
Under the proposed suspended sentence provisions, a court which passes a sentence of imprisonment of not more than two years may order that the sentence shall not take effect unless during a period specified in the order (which must be not less than one year nor more than three years from the date of the order) the offender commits another offence punishable with imprisonment, If the offender does commit such an offence during the specified period, the court must order the sentence to take effect unless it is of the opinion that this would be unjust in view of all the circumstances arising since the suspended sentence was passed. In England and Wales, sentences of less than six months must be suspended while sentences of between 6 months and two years may be suspended at the dis- cretion of the trial judge. Following the recommendation of the Working Party appointed by the Chief Justice, it is proposed that power to suspend all sentences of up to two years should be at the discretion of the trial judge.
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The advantages claimed for the suspended sentence may be summarised as follows:
(a)
(b)
(c)
it gives a judge a rather wider choice when sentencing an offender. At present, judges are not infrequently faced with the difficult decision of whether the sentence should reflect the seriousness of the offence, in which case imprisonment would be appropriate, or whether it should be related to the particular circum- stances of the offender, in which case probation or some other sentence might be appropriate. The power to award a sentence of imprisonment and then to suspend it will allow a judge in such cases to impose a sentence which reflects the seriousness of the offence, but at the same time to exercise leniency if the circumstances of the offender so warrant.
The imposition of a suspended sentence deters an offender from committing subsequent offences, since he knows that, if convicted, he would have to serve the original sentence of imprisonment in addition to any other sentence imposed.
To the extent that it is successful in deterring offenders from committing subsequent offences, the suspended sentence should help to reduce the prison population.
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