Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland) 1953

PART IN.I.GENERAL PROVISIONS AS TO THE PUNISHMENT AND TREATMENT OF OFFENDERS

N.I.Punishment generally

1Abolition of penal servitude, hard labour and prison divisions.N.I.

(1)No person shall be sentenced by a court to penal servitude; and every enactment which operates to empower a court to pass a sentence of penal servitude in any case shall operate so as to empower that court to pass a sentence of imprisonment for a term not exceeding the maximum term of penal servitude for which a sentence could have been passed in that case immediately before the commencement of this Act.

(2)No person shall be sentenced by a court to imprisonment with hard labour; and every enactment which operates to empower a court to pass a sentence of imprisonment with hard labour in any case shall operate so as to empower that court to pass a sentence of imprisonment for a term not exceeding the term for which a sentence of imprisonment with hard labour could have been passed in that case immediately before the commencement of this Act; and so far as any enactment in force immediately before the commencement of this Act requires or permits prisoners to be kept to hard labour it shall cease to have effect and accordingly the words “with or without hard labour” wherever occurring in any enactment prescribing the punishment for an offence are hereby repealed.

(3)So far as any enactment in force immediately before the commencement of this Act provides that a person sentenced to imprisonment or committed to prison is or may be directed to be treated as an offender of a particular division, or to be placed in a separate division, it shall cease to have effect.

2Commutation of death sentence to sentence of imprisonment.N.I.

Where a person who has been sentenced to death has been pardoned on condition that he serves a term of imprisonment, that person shall be deemed to have been lawfully sentenced by the court before which he was convicted to imprisonment for the said term.

S. 3 rep. by 1967 c. 18 (NI)

4Taking of other offences into consideration in imposing punishment.N.I.

(1)Where a person, on being convicted of an offence, admits himself guilty of any other offence and asks the court to take it into consideration in imposing punishment, the court may, unless objection is made by or on behalf of the prosecutor or unless it is an offence in respect of which the court has not jurisdiction to award punishment, take it into consideration accordingly.

(2)If the court takes an offence into consideration, a note of that fact shall be made and filed with the record of the sentence, and the accused shall not be prosecuted for that offence, unless his conviction is reversed or quashed or otherwise annulled.

Ss. 5, 6 rep. by 1968 c. 29 (NI)

S. 7 rep. by 1980 NI 10

S. 8 rep. by 1968 c. 34 (NI)

N.I.Property of convicted persons

9Amendments of Forfeiture Act, 1870.N.I.

(2)Where any pension or superannuation allowance has been forfeited under section two of the Forfeiture Act, 1870 [1870 c.23.] , the authority by whom the pension or allowance was granted may restore the pension or allowance either in whole or in part, but nothing in this sub-section shall authorise or permit the making, on foot of any such pension or allowance, of a payment in respect of a period occurring before the commencement of this Act.

10Other provisions as to property of convicted persons.N.I.

(1)A court before which a person is convicted of an offence punishable with imprisonment [F1 or detention in a young offenders centre] for a term exceeding six months, …F2, may make an order (in this section referred to as a “stay”) prohibiting that person (in this section referred to as the “convicted prisoner”) or any other person acting on his behalf from disposing of or dealing with all or any property of his, or held in trust for him or in his possession, custody or control at the time of his arrest, otherwise than in accordance with the judgment or order of a civil court of competent jurisdiction; and a stay shall, subject to the provisions of this section, have effect during such period as the court may think proper to enable all claims to or against such property to be determined and effectively enforced by civil process.

(2)A stay may be made on the application of the Crown or of any person who appears to the court to have—

(a)any claim to or against any property which is or appears to be the property of or held in trust for the convicted prisoner or which is or appears to have been in his possession, custody or control; or

(b)any good cause of action against the convicted prisoner.

(3)A stay may contain such directions and be subject to such conditions as the court may consider advisable for the purpose of ensuring that the property to which the stay relates is readily available to meet the claims of any persons alleged to have suffered loss of property or other injury as a result of an act of the convicted prisoner, or to be taken in execution by civil process.

(4)A copy of any stay made under this section may be sent by registered postF3 addressed to any person or officer (including a person responsible for keeping any register or other record of moneys, stocks, shares, securities or other assets) appearing to be in any way concerned with any property referred to in the stay and if any person or officer to whom such copy is so sent knowingly and wilfully neglects or fails to comply with or acts in breach or contravention of such stay or of any direction or condition contained therein he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—

(a)on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding[F4 level 3 on the standard scale]F4, or to both such imprisonment and such fine; or

(b)on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to[F4 an unlimited fine]F4, or to both such imprisonment and such fine.

(5)In this section—

• “property” includes any thing in action, and any estate or interest in or right to or over real or personal property; and

• “possession” includes receipt of income, or rents and profits or the right to receive the same.