Crime and Punishment in UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Crime and Punishment in UK - Essay Example The criminal Justice act 2003 was enacted to reduce the crime by deterrence and by taking the preventive steps like supervising in the licence period and taking into custody when there is a need. The minimum time prescribed for a sentence in murder cases and the permission for a trial in the absence of a Jury, the compulsion on the persons called for Jury duties, the custodial periods, the steps taken for reducing re-offenders, custody plus, the new discretionary powers for the Jury, the role probation agencies in reforming the convicts, the permission for the retrial are some of the new clauses included in the law and generally after three years of enacting the law, there is a need to analyse the effect of it and to which extent it was showing its extra effect than the previous laws. In the backdrop of increased sentences in the last ten years and decrease of the fines and community punishments the deterrence attained by implementing the law is to be discussed.First of all there sho uld be a reason for passing a sentence or giving punishment which reduces crime or offer deterrence. The public protection should also be considered and it was considered in the act. Some Judges or magistrates feel that the act gives a practical tool for improving their decision making capacity.1 A bench which is to present a report does not like to observe the details of the punishment given. But the effort to establish rapport between bench and probation by the act is capable of showing the real positive effect. The bench now is provided with a chance to know the decisions taken at the time of probation. But the process is too complex, but is valuable. Crime and punishment in UK The judges decide the punishments in individual cases. This can be termed as independence of Judiciary. But the independence is not the one that makes an escape from the responsibilities. The sentencers may think at the time of the sentence that the punishment given may help in reducing the crime and offer deterrence. But it is not the whole thing which can reduce and deter crime incidence. There should be provision in the law to make all the agencies of the Justice system work in coordination to bring reform in the convicts and attaining the reducing rate of crime. If the Judges think that just judicial independence is the panacea, then the system will suffer and the purpose is not served. How ever the provision of liaison between the judiciary and the probation agencies is capable of bringing the change in the offenders who commit crime and serve sentences from less than 1 year to more than 2 years. The reduction of crime and deterrence depends upon the factor that up to which exte nt the convict was reformed. Generally the rate of repeating crime in the persons convicted in murder cases will be very less (not nil) as a person convicted for more than 10 years, though not reformed, may loose the capacity of committing the murder. It may not be true in all the cases here it was mentioned to make a point that the reformation is more necessary in the case of the persons sentenced for the period of months to 2 to 4 years. The reformation brought out in these persons can be a tool in hand for the system to reduce the crime incidence and to attain the required deterrence. The Judiciary/probation liaison was provided in the act for this reformation, but the extent of its implementation will result in the range of reformation. But it can be known that the sentencing by the Judges and magistrates in all the levels of the courts increased and the community punishments and fines were decreased,1 telling the fact that the liaison was not working up to the mark or it may ta ke some more time to show its effect. Though the courts of England and Wales have more probability of imposing penalties other than custodies, in the last decade the custodial sentences increased. The community sentences were also resulted in the community punishments.2 In the last ten years the custodial sen