Experiential Sentencing Case Study

Once an offender is found guilty in the court of law, an appropriate sentence will be allocated by the judge; this is the process of sentencing (Roberts, 2013). The Criminal Justice Act 2003 identifies the main purposes for punishment. When allocating a sentence, any court sentencing an offender must regard: the punishment of the offender, the reduction of crime due to the punishment, the rehabilitation of the offender, the protection of the public and the ‘making a mends’ for those affected by the offending (Bartels, 2009).
In England and Wales, in an attempt to improve consistency, guidelines for sentencing are used by judges and magistrates (Jacobson & Hough). The Sentencing Council was created by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009; introduced
These guidelines may include the type of sentencing, for example custodial sentences, community sentences or fines (Roberts, 2015). Suggestions may also be made regarding the length of a custodial sentence for particular offences. Although these guidelines exist, they only provide suggestions for sentencing, and judges are free to use their discretion in sentencing decisions (Ministry of Justice, 2011).
In this way, although sentencing aims to be consistent and fair, it is recognised that many factors do influence sentencing; each offence and offender is individual, and must be treated with consideration of all circumstantial factors (Roberts, 2015). Whilst it is recognised that all burglaries, for example, cannot be punished with the same sentence, the aim is that every burglar’s sentence is decided in the same way by the judges and magistrates.
Once the judge has assessed the harm and culpability in the offence, other factors are then considered that may provide context to the incident (Ministry of Justice, 2010). Despite the guidelines, judges are obligated to use their discretion to consider all mitigating and aggravating factors included in the case, which relate to the offence or the offender and provide information about the circumstances when the offence was committed (Sentencing Council,
In May 2016, the influence of technology on offending and sentencing was acknowledged with the Sentencing Council publishing a consultation, proposing changes to sentencing for young offenders (Fouzder, 2016). It is suggested that the sharing of images and videos on social media, along with online grooming has become increasingly common in recent years, particularly in young offenders. Due to this, the sexual offences guidelines have added a number of aggravating factors, including the use of technology to blackmail or humiliate a victim (Fouzder, 2016). These aggravating factors, if found to be present in a case, will be considered by the judge and are likely to increase the severity of the sentence imposed