Lets discuss sentencing…

Welcome to week 2 of Court Visit Breakdown!

Here is the backstory

I went back to Crown Court this week
Most of the court cases had been adjourned this day, but I was luckily able to sit and watch a sentencing
The defendant had been found guilty of assault involving actual bodily harm.

So here is what I observed…

The defendant had been found guilty of pushing a 15-year-old off of his bike. During this incident the defendant’s partner had been involved and she had gotten pushed over by the defendant. Another individual tried to help; however, the defendant punched this man. Lastly, the police explained that the defendant had been resisting the whole arrest and attacking the police. The defendant was part of a second incident also, in which he threatened his partner with a gardening fork, saying that he was going to stab her. She explained that she felt he was in a psychotic episode at this point and attempted to get him in the car and to help. During the journey she felt under threat and managed to escape the car.

To begin with the judge was collating all the information that he had heard in court as to what the defendant had been charged with. During the summing up by the defence council, they had mentioned the mental health of the defendant and how that had played a part during the crimes. The defence, alongside the information from probation, explained that the defendant had previously attended rehab, and had completed a further 90 days of work on improving his uses of alcohol and drugs. They also went onto explain that his tolerance to the alcohol and drugs may have been affected by the medication he had been on, and resulted in a psychotic episode. As a result of this the probation officer recommended to the judge that the defendant complete a further 20 RAR (rehabilitation activity requirement) days.

Next the two barristers (defence and prosecution) had both ensured they had the correct figures for the compensation element of the sentencing. This was reassuring as a law student to see how easily the defence barrister was able to step back and speak to the defendant to ensure all the correct information, before resuming the discussion. I feel it is often portrayed in films and studies that you must be extremely prepared with everything, before you step into court. Although this should mainly be the case, it was quite reassuring to see that you can double check things before answering the judge. On this basis, the defence checked with the defendant his work schedule and how much he would be able to pay in compensation and in what timeframe. The judge then concluded that the defendant must pay a sum of £600 in compensation within 2 months.

Using all of this information, the judge then essentially gave a speech directed to the defendant. He explained that an incident of this manner must not happen again (this was reiterated many times within the speech), the judge referred to the support the defendant has from his partner, family and friends, and put great emphasis on how unfair this is for them. He then touched on the alcohol and drugs treatment work the defendant had already completed and declared that although not an excuse, it is evident that the defendant is trying to improve, and the judge felt the defendant was able to do that.

On this basis the judge moved onto the actual sentencing. Here it was interesting to hear how many guidelines the judge is required to use. He begins by looking at the initial guidelines for the sentencing of this sort of crime and what category it would place in. He then had to take into account specific guidelines in regard to the mental health element, and the impact that had on the defendants’ crimes. The defendant had previously been on a suspended sentence, therefore, the judge had to take into consideration that this too had been breached.

In conclusion, the judge sentenced the defendant to 8 months in custody alongside the completion of 25 RAR days. This was again a suspended sentence; however, it was made clear that this must not happen again. If the defendant commits any type of crime within 2 years, then he will go to jail for 8 months and the length of any new sentence. I suppose it is dependent on each case, however, it was surprising to see that although he had breached a previous suspended sentence, the judge still allowed the result of this case to be a suspended sentence also.

So that was the outcome for the case this week!

Don’t forget to check in for next week’s court visit breakdown!