Free Law Dissertations - C.considerations For This Offence 1.anti-discrimination The Court Is Under
C.Considerations for this offence
1.Anti-Discrimination
The Court is under a duty in accordance with the CJA 1991 to pass sentence in a non-discriminatory manner:
‘duty to avoid discriminating against any persons on the ground of race sex or any other improper ground.(s 95(1) CJA 1991)’
The Home Secretary is also under an obligation under s 95(1) CJA 1991 to publish information each year on recommendations to assist adherence by the Courts. This notion is especially important for the current case, owing to the clear evidence of leniency towards women under the ‘chivalry hypothesis’ that is made obvious by empirical data on sentencing from 1987 1997 (Inns of Court Law School, 2000, at p 214) which reveals a bias despite consideration of other variables (Hedderman, D. and Gelsthorpe, L, 1997).
2.The Pre-sentence report
(a)Was a PSR required?
s 81(1) of the PCC(S)A 2000 stipulates that where considerations of whether a custodial sentence (PPC(S)A 2000, S 79(2) and its length (PPC(S)A, S 80(2) are being considered, a pre-sentence report is not absolutely necessary where the offender is over the age of 18 and the court considers that the circumstances do not require such a report. However, the current offender was aged 19 at the time of the offence and a custodial sentence was deemed not to be necessary for a first offence of theft and battery.
Consideration of the pre-sentence report for a combined rehabilitation community service sentence are considered and under s 36 of the PPC(S)A 2000, there is a duty to obtain and consider a pre-sentence report when also making the Drug Treatment and Testing Order under ss 52-58 of the PPC(S)A 2000 but for reasons specified below under heading 3, the Court favoured a combination order.
The court may of course consider that the pre-sentence report is nevertheless unnecessary (s 36(5) PPC(S)A 2000) but this was not the case given that a drug treatment and testing order was required and that the offence, as a first offence merited the attention of a pre-sentence report for the purposes of ascertaining the appropriate form of community service.
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