Absolute discharge: No financial penalty, no conditions.
Conditional discharge: No financial penalty, but if the offender commits a similar crime in the stated period (e.g., 12 months), he can be brought back and given a more severe sentence for the original offence.
Fine: Up to £2,000 at magistrates' courts, unlimited in the Crown Court.
Probation order: The offender is placed under the supervision of a probation officer for specified period (often 1 or 2 years), who has to have regular contact with him. Other conditions can also be attached, such as that the offender must take medical treatment.
Community service order: It is expressed in hours (between 40 and 240). The offender carries out socially useful tasks, such as helping with the disabled, or decorating elderly people's houses, at weekends and other spare time.
Suspended sentence of imprisonment: For example, 'nine months suspended for two years'. If the offender commits another offence within the stated period, the original sentence can (at the discretion of judge or magistrate) be activated, and he can be made to serve it after any sentence imposed for the subsequent offence.
Partly suspended sentence of imprisonment: For example, 'twelve months imprisonment, six months suspended for two years'. The offender serves some of the sentence immediately. On release, the other part hangs over him like a suspended sentence.
Imprisonment: The offender goes to prison. The usual remission is one-third of the sentence. He will also, in many cases, become eligible to be released on parole after one-third of his sentence. The grant of parole is discretionary.
Unit 6B
Selecting the Legal structure For Your Firm in the USA