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8.1 Sentencing - Coggle Diagram
8.1 Sentencing
Location
Preliminary sentencing matters:
- When D pleads guilty to an offence or is found guilty after a trial, they're sentenced by the court
- The 2 preliminary matters:
- Where and when D will be sentenced, including the power held by MC to commit a D for sentence
- The process by which D can ask for an indication of sentence
When will D be sentenced
A D charged with a single offence
- Where D is charged with a single offence, they will either be sentenced immediately after they plead guilty/not guilty verdict is returned by the magistrates or jury
- Alternatively, court can adjourn the case for any of the following reasons:
- Court has insufficient time to deal with sentence immediately
- Court requires further information in order to sentence the D
- Court orders that a pre-sentence report be prepared by the Probation Service
- One or both of the parties wishes to place further information before the court prior to sentence and the court consents to an adjournment
Starting point:
- Court expects parties to be able to deal with sentence immediately following a guilty plea/verdict
- Any application to adjourn or for a pre-sentence report will not be automatically granted and is entirely at the discretion of the court
- With pre-sentence reports in particular court will want a justification as to why time and resources should be used to prepare such a report
- It expects legal representatives to be able to deal with any matters upon which they can properly take instructions like D's personal background
- Reports therefore usually constrained to circumstances where court needs specific info from Probation Service such as suitability for a particular form of sentence that involves their services, or assessment of dangerousness
- If MC decides to adjourn sentence then they are bound by statute as to how long adjournment may be:
- for D on bail = 4 weeks
- for D in custody = 3 weeks
A D charged with multiple offences
- If D charged with multiple offences and pleads guilty to some but not all and there's a trial on the remainder
- Court must decide whether to sentence on matters to which they have pleaded guilty immediately or whether to adjourn those matters to the conclusion of the trial
- It's normal to adjourn sentence until conclusion of the trial so that court can consider all of the pleas and verdicts together
- Its remains at the court's discretion as to when they pass sentence
Multiple Ds
- Where pleas are mixed and there needs to be a trial, court will likely wait until conclusion of it to sentence any Ds who have pleaded guilty or been found guilty
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