The impact of the criminal justice act 2003 on theft and the custody threshold

The article explores the likely impact of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 on the decision to imprison adult offenders convicted of theft. Using a sample of cases decided in the magistrates' court and the Crown Court under the Criminal Justice Act 1991, the article considers whether it is possible to estimate the effects of the 2003 Act on the use of imprisonment in theft cases. It does so by applying the Sentencing Guidelines Council's guidelines on theft, which were formulated under the 2003 Act, to the sample of earlier cases, to consider the extent to which the guidelines align with the decision to imprison prior to the enactment of the 2003 Act. Publisher statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Betts, G. (2015) The impact of the criminal justice act 2003 on theft and the custody threshold. Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, volume 54 (2): 176-192, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12100. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.