Criminal Justice
(Jersey) Law 1957
A LAW to abolish penal servitude and hard labour and otherwise to reform
existing methods and provide new methods of dealing with offenders and persons
liable to imprisonment, and for purposes connected therewith
Commencement [see endnotes]
1 Abolition of penal servitude and hard labour
(1) No
person shall be sentenced by a court to penal servitude; and every enactment
conferring power on a court to pass a sentence of penal servitude in any case
shall be construed as conferring power to pass a sentence of imprisonment for a
term not exceeding the maximum term of penal servitude for which a sentence
could have been passed in that case immediately before the commencement of this
Law.
(2) No
person shall be sentenced by a court to imprisonment with hard labour; and
every enactment conferring power on a court to pass a sentence of imprisonment
with hard labour in any case shall be construed as conferring power to pass a
sentence of imprisonment for a term not exceeding the term for which a sentence
of imprisonment with hard labour could have been passed in that case
immediately before the commencement of this Law; and so far as any enactment
requires or permits prisoners to be kept to hard labour it shall cease to have
effect.
2 Corrective training and preventive detention
(1) Subject
to the provisions of paragraph (3), where a person who is not less than 21
years of age –
(a) is convicted of an
offence punishable with imprisonment for a term of 2 years or more; and
(b) has been convicted on
at least 2 previous occasions since the person attained the age of 17 of
offences punishable with such a sentence,
then, if it is deemed
expedient with a view to the person’s reformation and the prevention of
crime that the person should receive training of a corrective character for a
substantial time, followed by a period of supervision if released before the
expiration of the person’s sentence, there may be passed, in lieu of any
other sentence, a sentence of corrective training for such term of not less
than 2, or more than 4, years as the court may determine.
(2) Subject
to the provisions of paragraph (3), where a person who is not less than 30
years of age –
(a) is convicted of an
offence punishable with imprisonment for a term of 2 years or more; and
(b) has been convicted on
at least 3 previous occasions since the person attained the age of 17 of
offences punishable with such a sentence, and was on at least 2 of those
occasions sentenced to Borstal training, youth detention, imprisonment or corrective training,
then, if it is deemed
expedient for the protection of the public that the person should be detained
in custody for a substantial time, followed by a period of supervision if
released before the expiration of the person’s sentence, there may be
passed, in lieu of any other sentence, a sentence of preventive detention for
such a term not less than 5, nor more than 14, years as the court may
determine.[1]
(3) Notwithstanding
the foregoing provisions of this Article, a sentence of corrective training or
preventive detention may be passed only by the Superior Number of the Royal
Court, sitting with or without a jury.
(4) Before
sentencing any offender to corrective training or preventive detention, the
court shall cause enquiry to be made as to the physical and mental condition of
the offender and the offender’s suitability for such a sentence.
3 General power of courts to fine offender[2]
Without prejudice to the
provisions of the Loi
(1937) sur l’atténuation des peines et sur la mise en
liberté surveillée, where a
court has the power to sentence an offender to a term of imprisonment and has
not the power to impose a fine in lieu thereof, the court when sentencing the
offender may impose a fine in lieu of or in addition to the term of
imprisonment.
4 Powers of courts in relation to fines and forfeited sureties[3]
(1) Subject
to the provisions of this Article, where a fine is imposed by any court, or an
amount is forfeited by a surety, an order may be made in accordance with the
provisions of this Article –
(a) allowing time for the
payment of the amount of the fine or the amount forfeited by a surety;
(b) directing payment of
the said amount by instalments of such amounts and on such dates respectively
as may be specified in the order;
(c) fixing a term of
imprisonment which the person liable to make the payment is to undergo if any
sum which the person is liable to pay is not duly paid or recovered;
(d) in the case of a
surety, discharging the amount forfeited or reducing the amount so forfeited.[4]
(1A) Any
term of imprisonment fixed under paragraph (1) shall not exceed the
maximum term of imprisonment within the jurisdiction for the time being of the
Magistrate’s Court in the case of an order made by –
(a) the
Magistrate’s Court;
(b) the
Youth Court; or
(c) the
Royal Court on appeal against a decision of the Magistrate’s Court.[5]
(2) Any
order under this Article may be made by the court by which the fine is imposed
or which orders the amount forfeited, and may amend any previous order made
under this Article so far as it provides for the matters mentioned in paragraph (1)(a)
and (b):
Provided that no
application may be made for an order under those sub-paragraphs after the
refusal of a previous application for such an order.[6]
(3) Where
any person liable for the payment of a fine or an amount forfeited to which
this Article applies is sentenced by a court to, or is serving or otherwise
liable to serve, a term of imprisonment, the court may order that any term of
imprisonment fixed under paragraph (1)(c) shall not begin to run until
after the end of the first-mentioned term of imprisonment.[7]
(4) The
power conferred by this Article to discharge an amount forfeited by a surety or
reduce such an amount shall be in addition to any other powers relating to the
discharge, cancellation, mitigation or reduction of any such amount.[8]
5 Incidental provisions as to fines and forfeited sureties[9]
(1) Where
an order is made under Article 4 allowing time for the payment of the
amount of the fine or the amount forfeited by a surety, or directing payment of
the said amount by instalments, the officer responsible for the recovery of the
fine or the amount forfeited by a surety shall not exercise the officer’s
powers until there is a default in complying with the order.[10]
(2) Where
any such order as aforesaid is made directing payment by instalments of a fine
or the amount forfeited by a surety, and default is made in the payment of any
one instalment, the same proceedings may be taken as if default had been made
in payment of all the instalments then remaining unpaid.[11]
6 Payment of fines, forfeited sureties or
securities [12] [13]
(1) Subject
to paragraph (2), this paragraph applies where a person is imprisoned or
otherwise detained and –
(a) is in default of the payment of –
(i) a fine ordered by
the court,
(ii) the
amount forfeited by a surety, or
(b) is ordered to pay a security under Article 12(1)(a)
of the Bail Law.[14]
(1A) Where
paragraph (1) applies –
(a) on
payment to the Viscount or the governor of the prison of any fine or amount
mentioned in paragraph(1)(a);
(b) where
the Viscount has otherwise succeeded in recovering the full amount of, or an
amount equivalent to a defaulted payment mentioned in paragraph 1(a); or
(c) on depositing with the Viscount
the security mentioned in paragraph (1)(b),
such person shall be
released unless the person is in custody for some other cause.[15]
(2) Except
between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 p.m., nothing in paragraph (1)
shall oblige the governor of the prison –
(a) to accept payment of any fine or amount
mentioned in paragraph (1)(a) and to release any person so detained in default of such payment; or
(b) to release any person detained pending
the deposit of the security mentioned in paragraph (1)(b).[16]
(3) Where,
after a period of imprisonment or other detention has been imposed on any
person in default of a payment mentioned in paragraph (1)(a), payment is
made of part of that sum, the period of detention shall be reduced by a number
of days bearing as nearly as possible the same proportion to the total number
of days of that period of detention less one day as the sum paid bears to the
amount of the fine or amount forfeited by the surety.[17]
(4) In
calculating the reduction required under paragraph (3) any fraction of a
day shall not be taken into account.
(5) The
governor of the prison shall pay any sums received under paragraph (1A) to
the Viscount.[18]
7 Interpretation
(1) In
this Law –
“Bail Law”
means the Criminal
Procedure (Bail) (Jersey) Law 2017;
“Borstal
institution” has the meaning given in section 43 of the Prison
Act 1952 (c.52) of the United Kingdom before the amendment of that section
by the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (c.33) of the United Kingdom;
“surety” has
the meaning given in Article 1(1) of the Bail Law; and
“youth
detention” has the meaning given in Article 1(1) of the Criminal
Justice (Young Offenders) (Jersey) Law 2014.[19]
(1A) References
in this Law to ‘amount forfeited by a surety’ mean the amount
ordered as forfeited by a surety under Article 14(6) of the Bail Law.[20]
(2) Any
reference in this Law to a previous sentence of imprisonment shall be construed
as including a reference to a previous sentence of penal servitude; any such
reference to a previous sentence of Borstal training shall be construed as
including a reference to a previous sentence of detention in a Borstal
institution; and any such reference to a previous conviction or sentence shall
be construed as a reference to a previous conviction by a court in any part of
the British Islands and to a previous sentence passed by any such court.
(3) Where
the age of any person at any time is material for the purpose of any provision
of this Law, the person’s age at the material time shall be deemed to be
or to have been that which appears to the court, after considering any
available evidence, to be or to have been the person’s age at that time.
(4) References
in this Law to an offence punishable with imprisonment shall be construed, in
relation to any offender, without regard to any prohibition or restriction
imposed by or under any enactment upon imprisonment of offenders of the
offender’s age, but shall not be construed as including an offence for
which the court is required to impose a sentence of imprisonment for life.
8 Citation
This Law may be cited as
the Criminal Justice (Jersey) Law 1957.