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The British Judicial System

 

This is deemed as the criminal justices method of dealing with these types of offenses. .
             When dealing with sentencing, the courts will take into account several factors associated with the offence; these are the aggravating and mitigating circumstances. Aggravating factors could be: a not guilty plea when charged with an offence or not pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity, the crime was premeditated, if the use of a weapon was involved or if the victim was deemed to be vulnerable in some way, an elderly person, a child or a person with disabilities. If any of these circumstances were present then the resulting sentence imposed could be towards the higher end of the spectrum in sentencing guidelines, with the judge or magistrate passing down a harsher sentence. Mitigating factors that the courts may take into account could include: a guilty plea when the offender is charged, the crime was carried out on impulse with no premeditation, the offender having no previous convictions or they have sole responsibly for a vulnerable person at home; a child, parent or spouse. If there are any mitigating factors present the courts can take these into consideration and are likely to result in a more lenient sentence. .
             In considering the sentence to be passed down on the guilty offender, the court must decide whether the offence necessitates a custodial or non custodial sentence. In instances of a custodial sentence, this could be anything between a suspended sentence which is serves in the community, with certain restriction put upon them, such as having to stay away from particular places or people or carrying out unpaid work in the community called community service/community payback. They may have an electric tag to monitor their movements and imposed curfew. .
             A determinate prison sentence which is a custodial sentence with a fixed length of time can be imposed. If the sentence is longer than 12 months, half of the sentence will be served in custody and the remaining term in the community on licence however if the terms of the licence are broken, the offender can be recalled to prison to serve the remainder of their sentence.


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