In the Scottish Courts
| Published date | 01 April 1966 |
| Date | 01 April 1966 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201836603000206 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
In
The
Scottish Courts
SENTENCING PROCEDURE
Winslow v. Farrell; Sillars v. Copeland
IN view of the complicated statutory procedures which
must
now be followed in sentencing various different categories
of offender it is
not
surprising
that
the
High Court should
recently have had to consider in two cases
the
appropriateness
of
the
procedure followed in
the
Sheriff Court.
The
accused in the first case-Winslow v. Farrell (1966
S.L.T.
13)-was
a man of twenty-three who was convicted
of stealing 14 sheets of lead. As his only previous court
appearance had been as a juvenile, when he was sentenced to
Borstal training for theft by housebreaking, he was a first
offender in terms of
the
First Offenders (Scotland) Act, 1960.
That
very short Act was substantially amended by the Criminal
Justice (Scotland) Act, 1963, and it is worth recording
Lord
Wheatley's comment that,
"In
view of the devious and complicated ways by which
this original four sub-sections Act was amended, one
wonders why the statute was not simply re-enacted in its
new form.
It
is perhaps not surprising
that
mistakes may
be made by a person seeking
the
goal of enlightenment
while wandering through
the
maze of amendment, cross-
reference, substitution
and
deletion."
The
effect of
the
amended Act on the accused in this case
was
twofold-it
was incompetent to impose a sentence of
imprisonment on him unless
the
Court was of opinion
that
no
other method of dealing with him was appropriate, and if
the
Court was of
that
opinion and did sentence him to imprison-
ment the Court was bound to state the reasons for its opinion
and to record these reasons in
the
minute of proceedings.
In
order to form the necessary opinion as to the appropriateness
113
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