Commentary on Sections Part 12 - Sentencing Chapter 1: General provisions about sentencing Section 157: Additional requirements in case of mentally disordered offender
463.This section re-enacts section 82 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act. Special provision is made for mentally disordered offenders: qualified medical practitioners must be consulted before a custodial sentence is imposed (unless the sentence is one that is fixed by law). The court can also decide not to request a medical report if it considers it unnecessary in a particular case. The court must consider any information before it relating to the offender’s mental condition and the likely effect of a custodial sentence on the offender and on any treatment which might be available to him. If the court does not obtain a medical report this does not invalidate any sentence passed, but on appeal the court must obtain and consider a medical report. Subsection (6) defines a medical report, which is different from a pre-sentence report, and subsection (7) says that provisions under this Section do not limit the provisions for pre-sentence reports in section 156.