Summary
This study presents the findings from a survey asking people sentenced to periodic detention their views on sentencing and crime. Periodic detention was a frequently used community-based sentence that required offenders to report to a periodic detention work centre at least once a week, and to undertake supervised community work. It allowed an offender to continue employment, or to continue to search for employment. The research assesses detainees' perceptions of sentencing practice and their knowledge of key facts, such as the level of violent crime, and the number of people offending while on bail. The research also explores offenders' perceptions of the relative severity of a range of sentences and the sentences they have experienced. The majority of offenders considered prison sentences the toughest sentence, and the one most likely to have a both a deterrent and rehabilitative effect. There was a major sentencing reform subsequent to this report, with the sentencing framework as set out in the Criminal Justice Act 1985 replaced by provisions of the Sentencing Act 2002. Significant changes to community-based sentences were enacted, effectively involving a merger of periodic detention with community service in a new sentence called Community Work.
Contents
1. Introduction. -- 2. Methodology. -- 3. Characteristics of the sample. -- 4. Perception of sentences. -- 5. Sentencing practice. -- 6. Knowledge about crime and sentences. -- 7. Detainees' experiences of fines. -- 8. Fairness of periodic detention and fines. -- 9. General comments. -- 10. Conclusion.