AC2.3 how forms of punishment meet the aims of punishment

imprisonment

• custodial sentences - used for the most serious offences & (under the Criminal Justice Act 2003) should only be used where awarding a fine or community sentence could not be justified & when the public must be protected - half of the prisoners in the UK were convicted of sexual or violent offences

~ there are more than 85,000 prisoners in about 160 prisons in the UK

• types of prison sentences:

1. mandatory life sentences - a life sentence is mandatory for murder & sometimes are given a ‘whole life tariff’ - offender will never be released from prison, e.g. Wayne Cousins,