Should Long Jail Sentences be Given?

These are violent times and court and judicial system are under constant pressure to give more and more severe sentences to the perpetrators of serious crime to satisfy the public’s demand for retribution.

However, prisons in the United Kingdom and other countries are at saturation point and judges and magistrates alike have to be mindful of who they send to prison and for how long. The government also play a role in sentencing offenders to prison and pass down guidelines on minimum and maximum sentences that can be given.

When should long sentences be given? The public have a perception on what crimes are deemed heinous, unacceptable and should demand long sentences. In the United Kingdom life long sentences have been given to high profile murderers. These criminals are often repeat offenders or serial murderers. Lesser but long sentences of 20 years plus have been handed down to paedophiles and perpetrators of excessive mindless violence.

The public and police demand these people be incarcerated and taken off the streets to protect law-abiding people. It is reasonable to give a long sentence to someone who has taken a life of another or have caused long term suffering to their victims.

Society needs to dictate to the judiciary what crimes it deems unacceptable and the sentencing procedure should reflect societies abhorrence of certain crimes. The courts however should use restraint on giving long sentences for offenders of non violent crime or where clear mitigating circumstances are evident.

The courts should try and remain detached from high profile cases where there is considerable media attention. The risk of passing long sentences to appease the media is if the sentencing is not uniform throughout that particular offence. The public will be quick to lose confidence if sentencing isn’t consistent and measured.

With dealing in lesser crimes sentencing should be a mixture of custodial sentences, suspended sentences, fines and enforced work in the community. Electronic tags and curfews are very useful in punishing public order and nuisance offences.

Judges and magistrates should bear in mind the possibility of rehabilitation when passing sentences. If sentences are too long for the crime committed it will remove any hope of rehabilitation and there is evidence to suggest some criminal quickly reoffend on leaving prison.

Once a prisoner has been released from prison there should a support structure to ease the individual back into society especially after a long term prison sentence.