Armed Forces Act 2006

Armed Forces Act 2006

2006 CHAPTER 52

Commentary

First Group of Parts – Discipline

Part 9 – Sentencing: Principles and Procedures

Chapter 1 – Principles and Procedures applying to Service Courts and Summary Hearings

General sentencing principles

Section 237: Duty to have regard to purposes of sentencing etc

473. Subsection (1) requires a service court or CO to have regard to the purposes of sentencing when dealing with an offender for a service offence. These considerations are the same as those set out in section 142 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (“the 2003 Act”), with an additional factor: the maintenance of discipline.

474. If the offender is under 18, subsection (2) also requires the court or CO to have regard to his welfare. This corresponds to section 44 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933.

475. Subsection (3) dispenses with these requirements where the sentence is fixed by law, and where Chapter 6 of Part 8 requires a particular sentence to be imposed.