'Lenient' sentences are re-examined

12 April 2012

More than 50 criminals had their sentences increased last year after they were ruled to be "unduly lenient", the Attorney General's Office said.

The Court of Appeal ruled in four fifths of the 71 cases referred to it that prison terms handed down by judges in England and Wales were too light.

As a result, 52 offenders had their jail terms increased, down from 75 in 2007.

The Attorney General, Baroness Scotland, considered 274 cases in 2008 compared with 342 a year earlier.

Baroness Scotland QC said: "The power to ask the Court of Appeal to consider increasing sentences is an important part of the Law Officers' role as guardians of the public interest.

"These cases are rare, but it is important that this safeguard is built into the criminal justice system, to enable the court to increase a sentence which is so lenient that the punishment fails to fit the crime and damages public confidence.

"Even if a sentence is not increased, the court can give appropriate guidance to judges in how they should approach particular types of cases in future."

Sentences can be referred to the court if they are considered to fall outside the appropriate range.

Among the sentences passed to the court were rapists, terrorists, drug dealers and paedophiles.

Lord Justice Thomas, the deputy head of Criminal Justice, said: "The figures published today show that the system for the Court of Appeal to deal with unduly lenient sentences is working."

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