§ Mr. Charles Irvingasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will undertake a study of what types of non-custodial sentences were imposed by petty sessional and Crown courts on offenders sentenced during the prison officers' industrial action for offences which normally carry custodial sentences.
§ Mr. MayhewInformation on sentencing by the courts in England and Wales during 1980 is being examined carefully as it becomes available. In addition, my right hon. Friend is considering the possibility of one or more special studies of sentencing patterns in the Crown court during the period which my hon. Friend has in mind.
§ Mr. Charles Irvingasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will undertake a comparative study of those who, during the prison officers' dispute, were given non-custodial sentences for offences which normally carry custodial sentences and of offenders, sentenced before the beginning of the dispute, who received custodial sentences for similar offences.
§ Mr. MayhewAny attempt to identify offenders given non-custodial sentences during the prison officers' dispute 261W who might in other circumstances have been given a custodial sentence would involve subjective judgments which would make it difficult to obtain reliable results. We doubt whether the value of such a study can be assessed until sentencing patterns during 1980 have been studied.