Commentary on Sections Part 12 - Sentencing Chapter 1: General provisions about sentencing Section 165: Remission of fines
471.This section re-enacts section 129 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act. If an offender’s financial circumstances are made clear to the court after it has fixed a fine, it can reduce the fine or withdraw it completely. If the offender is in prison for failing to pay the fine when such a decision is made, his term is to be reduced accordingly.
Section 166: Savings for powers to mitigate sentences and deal appropriately with mentally disordered offenders.
472.This section re-enacts and modifies section 158 of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act and allows the court to take into account any relevant matters in mitigation of the sentence, irrespective of the obligations imposed by section 148 of this Act in respect of community sentences, by sections 152, 153 and 157 of this Act in respect of custodial sentences, by section 156 of this Act in respect of pre–sentence reports and other requirements and by section 163 or this Act in respect of fines. None of the sections mentioned in subsection (1) are to prevent the court from passing any sentence it considers appropriate. Subsection (2) additionally makes clear that the Court can impose a community sentence, providing there are relevant mitigating factors, even where the offence(s) would normally have justified a custodial sentence. The court can reduce the sentence by considering other penalties given to the offender at the same time and where an offender is convicted of two or more offences by applying the totality principle, which is that the total punitive weight of the sentence must be commensurate with the offences committed (subsection (3)).