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In summary, to describe the activation of the suspended sentence and in particular the
part-suspended sentence as complex appears to be an understatement. It has been
demonstrated how the application to the court for revocation of the suspended sentence
has developed to such an extent as to put beyond doubt any claim that automatic
activation of the sentence may occur. Once a case has been entered before the court, the
court may exercise a discretion to activate or not depending upon the seriousness of the
breach. Moreover, the court can determine whether a breach has occurred according to a
standard which is less than that applicable for proving a criminal charge. And finally the
suspended sentence at common law may never be re-activated unless the prosecution as
gate-keeper of the process initiates the revocation proceedings.
CONCLUSION
As observed, the Irish suspended sentence at common law is entirely dependent upon
judicial interpretation in the structuring of the sentence. 150 This resulted in the proliferation
of different types of suspended sentence in these courts. The formal use of a bond was not
always used when structuring the sanction especially in the District Court. While a
suspended sentence requires two distinct time elements, namely the period of custody to
be served and the period of suspension of that custodial sentence, some Irish sentencers
may not pronounce the two critical elements when handing down a suspended sentence.
The third element of conditionality is central to the meaning of a suspended sentence as
the sentence maynot be invokedunless a condition is breached.
Osborough (1982:255) has disclosed that enforcement for a varietyof reasons maybecome
exceptionally difficult, that word of the substantive and procedural difficulties is bound to
travel among offenders thus making an important purpose of the sanction, the real threat
of custody, ineffectual. Criminal lawyers and regular offenders are well aware of the
difficulties associated with the re-entry of the suspended sentence, particularly the part-
suspended sentence. Some offenders may have had the experience of being placed on a
suspended sentence, have breached conditions of the suspended sentence and no further
150 Up to the 2ndOctober 2006 – Section 99 Criminal Justice Act 2006 introduces a concomitant statutorysuspendedsentence
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