BB97

Author Patricia Menéndez and Don Weatherburn
Published August 2014
Report Type Bureau Brief No. 97
Subject Prisons and prisoners; Sentencing; Evaluation reports
Keywords Suspended sentences, imprisonment

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Summary

Aim

To see whether the introduction of suspended sentences reduced the number of offenders receiving a fulltime sentence of imprisonment.

Method

The number of persons receiving a prison sentence was regressed against the number receiving a suspended sentence while controlling for changes in the total number of proven offenders and the monthly variability using multiple linear regression with ARIMA errors. The data set used for the analysis consisted of the monthly number of persons imprisoned, persons given a suspended sentence and proven offenders from January 2002 to December 2013.

Results

Every 10 additional offenders given suspended sentences was associated with an extra 3-4 offenders sent to prison.

Conclusion

Although suspended sentences were introduced as an alternative to prison, they appear to have had the opposite effect.

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