Part 12Sentencing

Chapter 1General provisions about sentencing

General restrictions on community sentences

151Community order for persistent offender previously fined

1

Subsection (2) applies where—

a

a person aged 16 or over is convicted of an offence (“the current offence”),

b

on three or more previous occasions he has, on conviction by a court in the United Kingdom of any offence committed by him after attaining the age of 16, had passed on him a sentence consisting only of a fine, and

c

despite the effect of section 143(2), the court would not (apart from this section) regard the current offence, or the combination of the current offence and one or more offences associated with it, as being serious enough to warrant a community sentence.

2

The court may make a community order in respect of the current offence instead of imposing a fine if it considers that, having regard to all the circumstances including the matters mentioned in subsection (3), it would be in the interests of justice to make such an order.

3

The matters referred to in subsection (2) are—

a

the nature of the offences to which the previous convictions mentioned in subsection (1)(b) relate and their relevance to the current offence, and

b

the time that has elapsed since the offender’s conviction of each of those offences.

4

In subsection (1)(b), the reference to conviction by a court in the United Kingdom includes a reference to the finding of guilt in service disciplinary proceedings; and, in relation to any such finding of guilt, the reference to the sentence passed is a reference to the punishment awarded.

5

For the purposes of subsection (1)(b), a compensation order does not form part of an offender’s sentence.

6

For the purposes of subsection (1)(b), it is immaterial whether on other previous occasions a court has passed on the offender a sentence not consisting only of a fine.

7

This section does not limit the extent to which a court may, in accordance with section 143(2), treat any previous convictions of the offender as increasing the seriousness of an offence.