Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The maximum sentencing powers of magistrates' courts are 12 months imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine. Some driving offences are punished by endorsement ( licence points ) and/or disqualification from driving for a period of time.
Magistrates have a maximum sentencing power of up to 12 months' imprisonment, and/or an unlimited fine. [5] In practice, magistrates have a wide range of sentencing options, which include issuing fines, imposing community orders, or dealing with offences by means of a discharge.
In the adult criminal court, magistrates have equal sentencing powers to district judges (formerly stipendiary magistrates) and deliver verdicts on both “summary” and “either way” offences that carry up to twelve months in prison, or an unlimited fine. [4]
Magistrates' powers are restricted to a maximum custodial sentence of six months for one offence or 12 months for two triable either-way offences (i.e. those offences that can be heard at either the magistrates' court or the Crown Court). The maximum fine the magistrates' court can impose is £5,000.
The Daily Telegraph reported that the Government is considering giving magistrates power to pass sentences of up to one year, twice the length of jail term they can currently hand down.
The role of justice of the peace, now often known as magistrates, originates from the Justices of the Peace Act 1361. The powers and responsibilities of them have altered over their long history. A justice of the peace held powerful sentencing powers such as hanging, whipping and penal transportation. Justices of the peace gained an array of ...
Defendants may be committed from a magistrates' court where its sentencing powers are inadequate. [9] This could be because: The combination of convictions exceeds 12 months' custody; The conviction requires more than 12 months' custody; Committals may also arise from breaches of the terms of a Community Order or a suspended custodial sentence.
In the Crown Court sentences of between 14 days and 12 months in the Magistrates' Court sentences of between 14 days and 6 months may be suspended. [49] Custody for life. Exceptionally, a person aged 18–21 may be sentenced by the Crown Court to custody for life where a person aged 21 or over would be liable to imprisonment for life. [50]