Why did they not get sent to prison?

[Puffing Devil]

Or why did they only get a fine, or a non-custodial sentence?

This frequently crops up in Disputes and Prosecutions, also in other forums where crime and punishment are discussed.

The answer is almost always in the Sentencing Guidelines. These are published by the Sentencing Council and are expected to be used as a reference by Judges and Magistrates when arriving at a sentence. They are guidelines, not tramlines, though a strong deviation without justification will most likely lead to a (successful) appeal.

Posted today is a great explainer by the Legal Feminist discussing why Why is Kasabian singer Tom Meighan not in prison?

Within 24 hours of Kasabian singer Tom Meighan’s announcement that he would be stepping back for “personal reasons,” he was at Leicester Magistrates Court pleading guilty to one count of assault by beating (common assault) on his ex-fiancee.

The details of the offence as they are reported – that he was drunk, knocked her down, attempted to strangle her, pushed her into a hamster cage and threatened her with a pallet, and most prominently, that he did all of this in front of a child – are serious.

A number of people are, quite reasonably, asking how it might be that he didn’t go to prison.

It's a good walkthrough of the application of the Guidelines and how the Judge could be seen to arrive at their sentence - which may well lead to accusations of the Judge being "soft". Next time you see a sentence you disagree with, don't rush to blame the judiciary, look instead at the guidelines. You can find them all on the SGC Website.

Don't like the guidelines - then speak to your MP and influence government policy.

 

[gordonthemoron]

well, that explains why he has left Kasabian

 

[Tazi Hupefi]

Looking at those guidelines, 26 weeks in prison was the theoretical maximum anyway.

Given you will only serve half of that - the high level community order is probably the best option.

For what it's worth, I think any prison sentence under 1 year is a waste of time, and an awful lot of money. Not enough time for real punishment, but not enough time for rehabilitation. But plenty of time to meet new criminal friends. If that person has a job, they'll probably be unemployed leaving prison, making it even more likely a person will reoffend.

Electronic tag, curfew, and a stringent community order or mandatory education, with a token financial deduction from benefit or employment income for the punishment period.

I'd also like to see more novel punishment like being banned from driving for a fixed period - even if the offence wasn't driving related. These things are privileges which people need to be reminded are not a god given right. If you want nice things, you behave properly.

 

[Senex]

Why doesn't attempting to strangle someone count as attempted murder and attract a sentence approperiate to that very serious crime?

 

[MotCO]

If you thought you would get a lengthy custodial sentence, would that make you think twice before committing a crime? If you can do what Tom Meighan did and avoid a custodial sentence (or indeed, any effetive punishment), what incentive is there not to misbehave?

 

[Geezertronic]

There has always been a culture of rewarding bad behaviour that was clearly visible when I was at school and depressingly followed my kids through school as well. Students who were badly behaved were given incentives/rewards to behave, and the good kids got nothing. That in my opinion is why we now have a certain amount of people who do what they want without fear of repercussion - and I am not just talking about criminals but I am also referring to those who were involved in the recent protests who defaced and destroyed property without remorse (unless they were caught). Some punishments have never fitted the crime, for example Fraud sentences always seem to be more than for an instance of assault or child abuse (I am not certain it is for info as I have not fully researched it but that is how it seems)

 

[Puffing Devil]

Looking at those guidelines, 26 weeks in prison was the theoretical maximum anyway.

Given you will only serve half of that - the high level community order is probably the best option.

For what it's worth, I think any prison sentence under 1 year is a waste of time, and an awful lot of money. Not enough time for real punishment, but not enough time for rehabilitation. But plenty of time to meet new criminal friends. If that person has a job, they'll probably be unemployed leaving prison, making it even more likely a person will reoffend.

Electronic tag, curfew, and a stringent community order or mandatory education, with a token financial deduction from benefit or employment income for the punishment period.

I'd also like to see more novel punishment like being banned from driving for a fixed period - even if the offence wasn't driving related. These things are privileges which people need to be reminded are not a god given right. If you want nice things, you behave properly.

You make very valid points.

The aim of any sentence is to balance rehabilitation with punishment. Whilst being a deterrent, short prison sentences do very little in terms of either rehabilitation or punishment.

A one month sentence is reduced to two weeks.

Should you be sentenced on a Monday, that would mean that you're due for release on a Sunday (14 days). Prisons don't release on a Sunday, so you'll be out on the Friday (12 Days). Unless the governor decides that their jail is too full and you're released even earlier on a tag to relieve overcrowding.

Many people are deceived by headlines of "5 years in Prison for XXX." The truth is that they will serve 2.5 years at most. Only the most serious offences will have a minimum tariff before parole, most prisoners are out at the half-way point of the sentence, if not earlier because of overcrowding.

 

[FQTV]

Purely anecdotal, but a police constable friend of mine was saying to me that, at the beginning of lockdown, there was a real problem with their 'customers' coughing and spitting at them. As the magistrate courts were closed, the cases were going straight to a District Judge, and the common outcome was a 26 week sentence. Again anecdotally, he says that, within about a week, the coughing and spitting thing stopped almost completely.

Assuming that any of that is true, and if it's in any way widespread beyond his force, I wonder whether sentencing guidelines for certain kinds of assault might be reviewed. From a deterrent point of view, I don't suppose that it would have had any effect on the propensity of someone like Meighan to do what he did, but it might possibly in other situations.

 

[Puffing Devil]

Purely anecdotal, but a police constable friend of mine was saying to me that, at the beginning of lockdown, there was a real problem with their 'customers' coughing and spitting at them. As the magistrate courts were closed, the cases were going straight to a District Judge, and the common outcome was a 26 week sentence. Again anecdotally, he says that, within about a week, the coughing and spitting thing stopped almost completely.

A Single District Judge has the same powers as a bench of Magistrates and sits in the Magistrate's court. I'm thinking that the DJs sat alone and socially distanced and picked off the defendants in police custody that needed immediate attention and all others were adjourned. They have a reputation for being "robust" on occasion. The sentence may well have been appealed, though much time would be served before an appeal could be heard, given that the appeal route would be to a Crown Court Judge sitting with two Magistrates. It certainly sends a message!

Assuming that any of that is true, and if it's in any way widespread beyond his force, I wonder whether sentencing guidelines for certain kinds of assault might be reviewed. From a deterrent point of view, I don't suppose that it would have had any effect on the propensity of someone like Meighan to do what he did, but it might possibly in other situations.

That is a matter for government - who have an arm's length influence on the Sentencing Council.

 

[FQTV]

A Single District Judge has the same powers as a bench of Magistrates and sits in the Magistrate's court. I'm thinking that the DJs sat alone and socially distanced and picked off the defendants in police custody that needed immediate attention and all others were adjourned. They have a reputation for being "robust" on occasion. The sentence may well have been appealed, though much time would be served before an appeal could be heard, given that the appeal route would be to a Crown Court Judge sitting with two Magistrates. It certainly sends a message!




That is a matter for government - who have an arm's length influence on the Sentencing Council.

Agreed; I think there might be a certain amount of lobbying from certain quarters to at least promote some research into how things have gone over the last few months, and then potentially feed this into government and the SC. I'm aware that there's a bit of this going on (for different reasons) in other countries whose legal systems have been affected by lockdowns, too.

My partner works with the courts and legal representation (civil rather than criminal, admittedly), and it's been interesting to see how systems and processes have changed since March, but also how representatives and the judiciary have suddenly had to lurch forward in terms of how hearings are managed, and how some have almost abdicated themselves from being part of anything other than the status quo.

OT, but it seems that General Practice medicine is also learning quite a lot about new (and potentially more effective) ways of doing things, as well.

 

[UP13]

Students who were badly behaved were given incentives/rewards to behave, and the good kids got nothing.

As a teacher, this is my biggest bug bear. I once had a well behaved child ask me for a behaviour chart and when asked why they said so they can go on the computer at the end of the day...

 

[LMS 4F]

Looking at those guidelines, 26 weeks in prison was the theoretical maximum anyway.

Given you will only serve half of that - the high level community order is probably the best option.

For what it's worth, I think any prison sentence under 1 year is a waste of time, and an awful lot of money. Not enough time for real punishment, but not enough time for rehabilitation. But plenty of time to meet new criminal friends. If that person has a job, they'll probably be unemployed leaving prison, making it even more likely a person will reoffend.

Electronic tag, curfew, and a stringent community order or mandatory education, with a token financial deduction from benefit or employment income for the punishment period.

I'd also like to see more novel punishment like being banned from driving for a fixed period - even if the offence wasn't driving related. These things are privileges which people need to be reminded are not a god given right. If you want nice things, you behave properly.

Being disqualified from driving may be effective on otherwise law abiding people but in my experience what I would call the criminal classes regard anything other than a custodial sentence as a good result.
A lot of these people never had a driving licence in the first place and there have been cases of such people driving away from court having just been banned.
It is available to the court to imprison anyone driving whilst disqualified but it seldom happens for a first offence, so to some minds minds again a good result.

 

[Tetchytyke]

If you can do what Tom Meighan did and avoid a custodial sentence (or indeed, any effetive punishment), what incentive is there not to misbehave?

Meighan has lost his career and his reputation. His bandmates won't speak to him.

I don't like the attitude that prison is always the tough sentence and that community service is always the namby-pamby sentence. It's not true.

For this offence the max penalty is 26 weeks. He pleaded guilty straight away, so gets 1/3 knocked off, so you're down to 17 weeks. You get out at halfway, so you're down to 8 weeks inside. Community service will have more of an impact.

 

[Tetchytyke]

the common outcome was a 26 week sentence

Assuming a not guilty plea and a trial, it probably was, deliberately coughing at a police officer on duty during a pandemic are all exacerbating factors.

 

[Starmill]

It is extraordinarily rare for me to read a judge's sentencing remarks and find a point of sincerely held and substantial disagreement. This is a big contrast to judgements deciding civil cases, where I occasionally do have think that they are genuinely wrong in their approach to the law - and that goes right up to the decisions of the Supreme Court. Fortunately I'm not big headed enough to imagine that I genuinely know better in the latter cases though, so I would still defer to their decisions and assume that the reason I disagree is because I do not fully understand.