ABSTRACT

A defendant may only be sentenced if he has been found guilty of an offence by the magistrate or the jury as the case may be, or if he has pleaded guilty to the offence. He may then be sentenced in accordance with whatever sentence the law provides for the particular offence. An offender is subject to the range of sentences, created by specific legislation, that may apply to all offences, such as probation or community service. The chapter focuses on the principles that are applied by the court in determining which sentence to fix in any particular instance and the range of sentencing options available. It is a recognised practice that offences which have not been tried may be ‘taken into account’ in imposing sentence for some other offence of which an accused person has been found guilty or to which he has pleaded guilty. The prosecutor has a very limited role to play in sentencing.