Fines as an Alternative to Community Orders

The Sentencing Council's Magistrates' Court Sentencing Guidelines are a useful reference point when sentencing offenders before the court.

The theory behind the guidelines is that an offender should be sentenced in a very similar way, whether the matter is dealt with at Berwick-upon-Tweed Magistrates' Court, Truro Magistrates' Court or anywhere in between.

The guidelines recognise that in some circumstances it might be appropriate to sentence an offender to a fine as an alternative to a community order. In its guidance on the imposition of community and custodial sentences, the Sentencing Council notes "a Band D fine may be an alternative to a community order".

Fines are by far the most common sentence imposed by the Magistrates' Court. They are entirely punitive in nature. Community orders are much broader in scope. They also include a punitive element, but their main purpose is to change offender behaviour and prevent reoffending. This involves the offender working closely with the Probation Service for a period of up to 3 years.

In today's article I am going to give an example of where a fine might be imposed as an alternative to a community order.

Considering the very common case of an offender convicted of an offence under section 5(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 - namely that they drove a motor vehicle, in a public place, after consuming so much alcohol that the proportion of it in their body (usually their breath) exceeded the prescribed limit (35 microgrammes in 100 millilitres of breath).

In sentencing this offence the starting point is determined by the proportion of alcohol in the offender's body, as shown in the following table.

Referring to the table, an offence involving 100 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath would have a starting point of a medium level community order. The court would then consider any aggravating or mitigating circumstances. These would be factored into the sentence by adjustment from the starting point, but staying within the same range. In this example the outcome after adjustment would still be some sort of community order.

By this stage it is apparent that the threshold for a community order has been passed, but the court needs to give final consideration as to whether or not it is necessary to impose such an order. Would the offender benefit from working with the Probation Service? Can the Probation Service address any underlying causes of the offence? Will making the order do anything to change the offender's behaviour and prevent them from reoffending?

If the answer to any of those three questions is "no", then even though the offence is commensurate with a community order it is probably more appropriate to impose a fine instead.

This might be the case for an offender of previous good character, who commits a one-off offence, for which they are suitably remorseful, who has a stable and supportive personal life and who has no underlying medical, mental health or substance abuse issues.

Suppose an offender of previous good character had recognised that drinking to excess was a key factor in their offence. If they were already taking active steps to address their drinking the court may well take the view that a community order was unnecessary.