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What Do Irish Judges Perceive They Are Doing?
When interviewed on the purpose of the suspended sentence; on what they as sentencers
intended to achieve when they used the sanction and who might be suitable for the
sanction, the judges gave a wide array of replies. These touched variously upon: the
avoidance of custody, the strong deterrent value of the sanction, responsibilisation of the
individual offender, rehabilitation of the offender, the use of the sanction as a symbolic
gesture, giving a last chance to an offender and managerial considerations in the disposal of
pleas of guilty. Some of the judges expressly mentioned that the sanction was imposed in
lieuof a custodial sentence:
“NormallyI wouldsendthat person to prison but I amlooking here for this new d
“I believe that the judges should not send people to prison except as a last resort and I see it as part
of that process. That you have a viewthat the crime is so serious that they ought to go to prison
but then some circumstances put forward that allows you to give the Defendant one other chance
and that is the way I would use it. In order to keep from sending people to prison. It is the last
chance that theyhave.”A1J1DC.
“…where I have come to the conclusion that a custodial sentence is warranted but where I have
been persuaded that for some good reason it might be better to impose a deterrent upon this
offender; to persuade him to change his ways with literallythe threat of imprisonment hanging over
him. I appreciate that preventive detention is alien to our lawbut this is not preventive detention
but it is a serious threat hanging over the offender that there are consequences of re-offending.
In a word the deterrent effect is what I wish to achieve…to ensure that for a period of a year or two
that he will not reoffend.”A4J1DC.
“First of all I find that before a sentence is imposed as a last resort, you have to first of all decide to
sentence somebody and then the suspension is the next question. You feel that with that hanging
over their head, it will act as a very real deterrent. Of course, if they have a long list of convictions,
it is useless but deterrence is the purpose of it rather than punishment.”A7J2CC.
“A belief that prison was not merited in respect of that particular accused…the sanctioning of the
accused person without exposing him to a prison regime…it is a punishment in its own
right.”A9J1HC.
Meanwhile the respondent in the Supreme Court looked upon suspended sentences in
general with a sense of scepticism when he stated:
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