On this occasion I would tend to agree with Inspector Gadget that the pictures of Daniel Chrapkowski celebrating his avoidance of prison on the steps of Manchester Crown Court is not an edifying sight.. Having pleaded guilty to a count of causing Grievous Bodily Harm that put his victim in hospital for a month, he received a suspended term of imprisonment coupled with Unpaid Work and a two month curfew. A co-accused pleaded guilty to Affray and received Unpaid Work coupled with a Curfew and Compensation Order. A third person was sent to custody for 27 months having admitted that the assault had been committed whilst on bail for another offence of violence.
I have said before and I say again that it is invariably unwise to comment on sentencing decsions in the absence of full knowledge. For a start we don't know if there was any antecedant history. For all we know Mr Chrapkowski may well have been of previous good character and, as unattractive as he may look from his Facebook photos plastered all over the tabloid press, as far as I'm aware it's not yet illegal to either be an arse or cover yourself in tattoos.
On one level the sentencing decisions by the judge in relation to each defendant can be regarded as competent, understandable and proportionate and especially given the guilty plea's. My concern relates to the point at which the plea's were entered and as a consequence the resulting type and quality of probation Pre-Sentence Reports that were prepared. For early guilty plea's, there's ordinarily plenty of time for probation to prepare full reports, but if there is a guilty plea on the day, judge's are increasingly loathe to adjourn for any reasonable length of time and now insist on just a quick interview on the day with a Probation Services Officer based at Crown Court.
My point is this. I have reason to believe that in the interests of speed and economy, probation is no longer in a position to make the necessary full investigation and assessment on defendants prior to sentencing, and especially in serious cases. PSR's were invented in the first place so as to assist the process of fair sentencing by providing an independent but expert view somewhere in between the necessarily partisan picture painted by the defence and prosecution. In my view we are slowly but surely losing this vital role and it will have serious consequences for sentencing.
Completely agree, Jim. The argument is that , potentially, at least, quick justice is no justice at all. It won't happen overnight but the erosion of the intelligent sentencing that is possible with properly prepared pre-sentence reports will inevitably lead to a deterioration in the quality of sentencer decision making and, over time, we will see more and more subtle and not so subtle injustices perpetrated and a slew of poorer outcomes in terms of rehabilitation.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely agree with your last point about reports. Like you I am a PO of many years, and I hate on the day reports; you can't think about what you ought to go for, and the courts where I am are now so well trained they seem to think an oral report on anything is the way to go. Have to say this has led to some very odd sentencing decisons recently, and also to an increasing feeling that what the PO says doesn't matter as 'we can get a stand down from the duty officer which is just as good'.Then the pieces have to be picked up on the Order.
ReplyDeleteI fear that it's even worse than Anonymous says. "Then the pieces have to be picked up on the Order". In West Yorks they're concentrating on post sentence assessment, and that means that PSRs now only proposed low, medium or high intensity Activity Requirements on Community Orders. They don't tell the sentencers what they can expect to happen on an Order. Although I like the idea of keeping Orders flexible enough to be tailored to needs, the initial anecdotal evidence seems to be that sentencers are sticking two fingers up to the Probation Service and giving custodial sentences instead. For a Trust that has recently been highly respectd by central NOMS performance indicators, this new model of delivery comes with huge business risks. I reckon that if it doesn't go well they'll see Serco et al circling. Would be an easy win for them to get things back on track.
ReplyDeleteYa you are right now days all just about money if you have it it defen you from any punishment.....
ReplyDeleteCriminal Justice Degree