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Sentencing Act 1995
40Suspended sentence of imprisonment
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40 Suspended sentence of imprisonment
(1) A court which sentences an offender to a term of imprisonment of
not more than 5 years may make an order suspending the sentence
where it is satisfied that it is desirable to do so in the circumstances.
(2) An order suspending a sentence of imprisonment may suspend the
whole or a part of the sentence and the order may be subject to
such conditions as the court thinks fit.
Note for subsection (2)
For example, the order could be subject to a condition mentioned in the
Regulations for a community correction order or an intensive community
correction order.
(3) A court must not impose a suspended sentence of imprisonment
unless the sentence of imprisonment, if unsuspended, would be
appropriate in the circumstances having regard to this Act.
(4) Where an offender is convicted of more than one offence in the
same proceeding, a court may only make an order suspending a
sentence of imprisonment imposed by it where the aggregate
period of imprisonment imposed in respect of all the offences does
not exceed 5 years.
(5) A wholly suspended sentence of imprisonment is taken to be a
sentence of imprisonment for all enactments except an enactment
providing for disqualification for, or loss of, office or the forfeiture or
suspension of pensions or other benefits.
(6) A court must specify in an order suspending a sentence of
imprisonment a period of not more than 5 years from:
(a) if the whole of the sentence is suspended – the date of the
(b) if a part of the sentence is suspended – the date specified in
the order;
during which the offender is not to commit another offence
punishable by imprisonment if the offender is to avoid being dealt
with under section 43.
(7) Where an offender is ordered to serve the whole or part of a wholly
suspended sentence of imprisonment under section 43, then, for
Sentencing Act 1995 24
any enactment providing for disqualification for, or loss of, office or
the forfeiture or suspension of pensions or other benefits, the
offender is taken to have been sentenced to imprisonment on the
day on which the order was made under that section.
(8) A partly suspended sentence of imprisonment is taken, for all
purposes, to be a sentence of imprisonment for the whole term
stated by the court.
(9) For this section, a suspended sentence of imprisonment imposed
on an offender on appeal is taken to have been imposed by the
appellate court.
(10) Despite subsection (9), where a suspended sentence of
imprisonment is imposed on an offender on appeal, an application
under this subdivision that may be made to a court may be made to
the court whose order was appealed against and that court may
deal with the offender even if the court is not the court that imposed
the sentence.