Graeme Brown: Sentencing and Prohibited Firearms, Gebunden

Klappentext

This book examines sentencing law and practice for offences involving the possession and use of prohibited firearms in four jurisdictions: England & Wales, Scotland, the Republic of Ireland, and Canada. Focusing on statutory minimum sentence regimes, sentencing guidelines, and case law in each jurisdiction, the book situates the law within its broader social and theoretical contexts.

The book explores the nature and effect of firearms, including rifles, handguns, shotguns, and electric shock weapons, as well as prohibited ammunition, through a review of the literature on wound ballistics. It examines sentencing law and practice in each jurisdiction, including minimum sentence provisions; the issuing of guideline judgments; the development of formal sentencing guidelines; and, in the cases of Ireland and Canada, the Supreme Court decisions in Ellis v Minister for Justice and Equality (2019) and R v Nur (2015), which struck down certain minimum sentence provisions as unconstitutional. An analysis of the development of sentencing guidance in the UK is provided, from the decision of the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) in R v Avis (1988); through the adoption of the Avis guidelines by the Scottish courts; to the Sentencing Council's 2020 definitive guidelines.

The analysis is undertaken with a view to considering the future of mandatory sentencing policies, and suggesting a new model of sentencing guidance for offences involving prohibited weapons.