A Different Viewpoint

I am grateful to The Justice of the Peace (Magistrates) Blog for stirring me out of my temporary silence by this piece about a recently reported case in Exeter. Before proceeding it is necessary to issue the usual health warning that commenting on cases without full knowledge is a risky business and is precisely why society must have confidence in its sentencers to do the right thing, because they alone are in possession of all the facts.

It is not unusual for a probation officer to be faced with preparing a PSR in respect of a new offence when the defendant is already subject of a Suspended Sentence Order. On the face of it and looked at from the PO's point of view it represents quite a challenge if the court is to be persuaded not to simply activate the suspended term of imprisonment and add a bit more in respect of the new offence. So, how would I approach this task? 

Firstly I would make the point that I feel it was a mistake to give the Magistrates Court the power to impose Suspended Sentences in the first place. This used to be restricted to the Crown Court only and as such in my view carried much greater weight when handed down. They were quite rare sentences and were often combined with Supervision Orders. It was not unusual for any breach to be reserved to the sentencing Judge who sometimes requested progress reports along the way. I guess what I am saying is that in essence the sentence has been somewhat devalued since it became more widely used. 

In this case we are not told if the new offence was similar to that for which the suspended sentence was made. This is relevant in my view and we are not told if there was a full PSR prepared or not. My assumption would be that there was and if so the author would have gone to some lengths to stress the change in personal circumstances. The issues of taking responsibility for the partners child, gaining employment and the impending arrival of a new baby would all be worthy of highlighting in my view.

Clearly imprisonment would be extremely detrimental in this situation and achieve absolutely nothing in terms of assisting rehabilitation, which after all is one of the key aims of the whole justice process. All probation officers know full well that finding a partner is often the turning point for many young offenders, as indeed is the normal maturing process. This young man was 19 and many in his situation simply stop offending around this age.

Of course the other aim of the process is punishment and in this case the offender was made subject of a curfew, 40 hours UPW, a compensation order and court costs all in addition to a further period of imprisonment suspended. I would like to think that this would have been broadly my recommendation in a PSR and I would have attended court in person to support it. Based on limited information, I think it was the right outcome and I'd hazard a guess it might indeed prove to be the turning point for this young man. For me it once more highlights the vital importance of full Pre Sentence Reports being prepared by qualified probation officers.