Mitigation

In 2007, the Prison Reform Trust published a paper on the role of personal factors in sentencing. The research identifed the following mitigating factors cited by sentencers as affecting sentence.

1. The criminal act

  • Lack of seriousness/impact of offence
  • Played minor role in relation to others
  • Received ‘rough justice’ during criminal act

2. Immediate circumstances of the offence

  • Acted under pressure from/on behalf of others
  • Provocation/threat
  • Highly emotional/distressed
  • Lack of understanding of offence
  • Spontaneous/opportunistic offence
  • No intention to cause harm
  • Offence was ‘error of judgement’

3. Wider circumstances at time of the offence

  • Youth
  • Difficult family/social circumstances
  • Financial pressures
  • Social / intellectual limitations
  • Pressing personal or family need
  • Vulnerable/immature/naïve
  • Psychiatric illness/problems

4. Response to offence and prosecution

  • Remorse (and efforts at reparation)
  • Faced up to/understands criminal behaviour
  • Has been addressing problems since arrest
  • Co-operation with authorities
  • Letter from defendant to court
  • Court processes stressful and/or long-running
  • Has lost job and reputation
  • Defendant represented himself well
  • Serious demeanour in court
  • Supportive attitude of victim

5. Defendant’s past

  • Good character or limited/irrelevant/gap in previous offending
  • Difficult/deprived background
  • Has led a productive/worthwhile life
  • Has shown a general improvement in behaviour
  • Offence uncharacteristic/’let yourself down’
  • Engaged well with previous community punishment


6.  Defendant’s present and future

  • Family responsibilities
  • Can address/is addressing drug problems
  • Unlikely to reoffend/cause harm (general point)
  • Prison will not benefit defendant and/or the public
  • Supportive family/partner
  • Currently in work/training or prospects of work/training
  • Can address/is addressing alcohol problems
  • Can or may make amends for offending behaviour
  • Is a capable person
  • Letters of recommendation
  • Age (older)
  • Physical illness/disability
  • Non-English speaking (therefore prison would be especially difficult)

7.  Proportionality and consistency

  • Need to avoid over-long custodial sentence
  • Consistency with co-defendants
  • Has effectively spent time on curfew order (on bail)
  • Has spent time in hospital since offence
  • Totality principle

 

 

Guilty pleas and ancillary orders

Q: Does a guilty plea entitle an offender to a reduced disqualification period, or a reduced number of penalty points?

A: No.

The Sentencing Council Reduction in Sentence for a Guilty Plea: Definitive guideline states at paragraph 2.6;

"A reduction in sentence should only be applied to the punitive elements of a penalty. The guilty plea reduction has no impact on sentencing decisions in relation to ancillary orders, including orders of disqualification from driving."

In R v Needham [2016] EWCA Crim 455, Treacy LJ in considering the extended driving disqualification provisions referred to the aforementioned guideline and at paragraph 41 said;

“There have been no submissions that that approach should be modified as a result of the introduction of the new sections. We consider that the existing guidance should continue to apply."

 

 

 

What is a "public place" in the context of the Road Traffic Act 1988?

This is a matter of fact to be determined by the court. The following have been held to be "public places":

  • The car park of a pub; Vannet v Burns (1988)
  • A hotel driveway; Dunn v Keane (1976)
  • A multi-storey NCP car park; Bowman v DPP (1991)
  • A hospital car park; DPP v Greenwood (1997)
  • The car park of a car dealership; May v DPP (2005)
  • A field used for point-to-point racing; Collinson (1931)
  • A field used for parking at an agricultural show; Paterson v Ogilvey (1957)
  • A privately owned caravan site; DPP v Vivier (1991)
  • Freight immigration lanes at a dockyard; DPP v Coulman (1993)
  • A school playground; Rodger v Normand (1994)

The following have been held not to be "public places":

  • Privately owned land next to a private club; Pugh v Knipe (1972)
  • A community centre car park; Havell v DPP (1993)
  • A company car park used by staff and customers; Spence (1999)
  • An internal roadway at a University campus; Cowan v DPP (2013)

How do portable speed cameras work?

Police forces in England & Wales sometimes use portable laser speedmeters to detect excess speed. Two commonly used devices are the LTI 20.20 and Kustom Pro Laser III.

A speedmeter measures and displays the speed of a moving vehicle and the range at which the speed was measured. Laser speedmeters calculate speed by determining distances - by measuring the time of flight of short pulses of infrared light. 

A laser speedmeter may be hand-held:

Here is the same device:

The device has detected a vehicle moving at 51 mph at a distance of 184.2 metres. 

The same technology may be used from the inside of a so-called Safety Camera Van:

Here is the inside of the van:

The above image shows a laser speedmeter attached to a tripod, screen and video recorder. The operator has detected a motorist travelling at 119 mph, from a distance of 267 metres.

The video may be kept for evidential purposes, and can be used to produce stills. Here is an example still:

Images by North Yorkshire Police and Surrey Police.

Crown Court sentencing mistakes

In R. v Kent 77 Cr.App.R 120, the Court of Appeal gave the following examples of the Crown Court passing illegal sentences:

(a) ordering consecutive periods of disqualification.

(b) disqualifying and ordering penalty points to be endorsed.

(c) endorsing the incorrect number of penalty points.

(d) disqualifying for repeated offences without allocating the disqualification to a single offence.

(e) endorsing penalty points for multiple offences committed on the same occasion.

(f) failing to disqualify a 'totter' where there were no mitigating circumstances.

(g) failing to state special reasons or mitigating circumstances when not ordering disqualification or endorsement.