Commentary First Group of Parts – Discipline Part 8 – Sentencing Powers and Mandatory Etc Sentences Section 200: Suspended sentence orders with or without community requirements
415.Section 189 of the 2003 Act allows a civilian court in England and Wales, when passing a sentence of imprisonment for less than 12 months, to make an order (a “suspended sentence order”) that the sentence is not to take effect immediately, but can be brought into effect if the offender commits a further offence within a specified period (the “operational period”) or fails to comply with one or more requirements (“community requirements”) which the order must impose. The requirements available for this purpose include all those available for inclusion in a custody plus order, plus some additional options. This section modifies section 189 so that a service court can not only make a suspended sentence order including community requirements, but (unlike a civilian court) can also make one without such requirements.
416.Subsection (5) further modifies section 189 of the 2003 Act so that a suspended sentence order made by a service court can take effect not only if the offender fails to comply with the community requirements (if any) or commits a civilian offence during the operational period of the order, but also if he commits another service offence during that period.
417.Subsection (6) prohibits a court from including a community requirement to be complied with outside the UK. So, if the court passes a suspended sentence of imprisonment and expects the offender to reside outside the UK, the order must be one without community requirements.