1. Sentencing and Imprisonment: Judicial Perspectives Jacqueline Tombs

2. Custodial Borderline Cases the kind or nature of the offence was deemed so serious that no sentence other than custody was possible; and/or the nature and pattern of the offenders past convictions and failure to respond to earlier community sentences ruled out non-custodial options.

3. Non-custodial Borderline Cases the present circumstances of the offender; and/or the present condition of the offender Overall emphasis on factors signifying personal mitigation

4. Sentencing Rationales because non-custodial sentences are too tough it is better for an offender to go to prison than be set up to fail in a too rigorous community-based programme; there are no appropriately demanding programmes in the community; and sentencers must be seen to be tough or they will lose credibility.

5. Not setting people up to fail I am not in the business of putting people up to fail. If a woman had a history of breaching probation, breaching community service, failure to appear I would probably not impose a DTTO [drug treatment and testing order]... A DTTO is very very restrictive… [it is] a very demanding disposal and if they show from their record they are not going to co-operate there is no point in putting them on a DTTO…The woman I was telling you about …I recently refused to put her on a DTTO. Her solicitor went on and on and on about it and I said to him, I am not doing this, this woman will not be able to co-operate with a DTTO and I sentenced her to five months in prison...