ABSTRACT
Unlike appeals against conviction, the Criminal Appeal Act 1968 does not specify grounds for appeal against sentence. However, the following grounds may be derived from case law.
If the judge imposes a sentence which he has no jurisdiction to impose, that sentence can be set aside by the Court of Appeal. This would apply if the judge imposed a sentence of three years’ imprisonment for an offence which carries a maximum of two years’ imprisonment. In R v Corcoran (1986) 8 Cr App R(S) 118, for example, a Crown Court judge imposed a sentence of long term detention on a juvenile who had been committed for sentence following conviction in a youth court; thus the offender had not been convicted on indictment, and so a sentence under s 53(2) of the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 was clearly unlawful.
