Lawyers Uncover Big Divide in Nation’s Jail Terms

Big disparities (несоответствие) in sentencing of criminals between different countries, even within Europe, are revealed in a survey to be published at the biennial (случающийся раз в два года) conference of the International Bar Conference in Cannes later this month. The survey team put a series hypothetical case to legal authorities in more than 20 countries and found penalties in Europe varied by more than 10 years for crimes such as rape and by more than 40 years when countries are compared.

In one question, a 19-year old man was found guilty of raiding a bank with four other people, masked and armed with a machinegun. He was unemployed, the youngest member of the gang, and the £800,000 had been recovered (recover взыскивать). The defendant had several convictions for petty theft. Canada suggested a likely sentence of three to five years. Norway two to three years and Denmark six years. Spain said four years, two months and a day, and Ireland five to six for a not guilty plea. England said ten to 14 years, or five years in a young offenders’ institution, and Texas ten years.

In a case of burglary of a stately (богатый) home, goods worth £90,000 were taken and later recovered from a man with a substantial record of theft. Canada said it would impose a jail sentence of five to seven years, Kenya three years plus hard labor, Denmark one to two years and the Cook Islands probation of three months. Texas suggested ten years’ jail and England from three to seven years.

Likely sentences for a domestic assault case, where the husband broke his wife’s nose, where there was a long history of dispute and previous charges of assault, ranged from between six and eighteen months in Canada to 30 or 40 days in Denmark, possibly suspended. Six months’ imprisonment was likely in Kenya, a fine in Scotland and ten days’ jail in Texas. The likely sentence in England is six months, suspended for two years.

Peter Michael Muller, an attorney in Munich and chairman of the association’s criminal law committee, which conducted the survey, said the findings would help practitioners in transnational criminal law and could lead to sentencing reforms.

	Crime #1: Bank robbery	Crime #2: __________	Crime #3: _______
Canada	3-5 years
Denmark	6 years
England	10-14 years (or 5 years in a young offenders’ institution)
Ireland	5-6 years
Norway	2-3 years
Spain	4 years, 2 months, 1 day
Texas	10 years