PART IISummary Procedure

Conviction and Sentence

Imprisonment, etc.

417Restriction on imprisonment of first offenders

(1)

A court of summary jurisdiction shall not impose imprisonment on a first offender of or over the age of 21 unless the court is of the opinion that no other method of dealing with him is appropriate; and section 416 (2) of this Act shall apply for the purpose of determining whether any other method of dealing with such a person is appropriate as it applies for the purpose of determining whether any other method of dealing with a person under the age of 21 is appropriate.

(2)

Section 416(3) of this Act shall, with the necessary modifications, apply where a first offender of or over the age of 21 is sentenced to imprisonment as it applies where imprisonment is imposed on a person under that age.

(3)

A person falling to be dealt with for an offence shall be treated for the purposes of this section as a first offender if, but only if, he has not since attaining the age of 17 been convicted of any other offence, except an offence not punishable with imprisonment.

(4)

In determining for the purposes of subsection (3) of this section whether a person has been convicted of an offence, no account shall be taken of any of the following enactments, that is to say—

(a)

section 191 or 392 of this Act (under which a conviction leading to probation or discharge is to be disregarded except as therein mentioned);

(b)

section 13 of the M1Powers of Criminal Courts Act 1973 (which makes similar provision in respect of convictions on indictment in England and Wales);

(c)

section 8 of the Probation Act (Northern Ireland) 1950 or any corresponding enactment of the Parliament of Northern Ireland for the time being in force;

and any order made by a court of summary jurisdiction under section 383 or 384 of this Act shall be treated as a conviction.

(5)

For the purposes of subsection (3) of this section, a previous conviction shall be disregarded after the expiration of a period of 10 years from the date of that conviction, being a period exclusive of any period during which the offender was in custody under sentence in respect of the conviction.

(6)

In this section " court" does not include a court-martial, and "offence not punishable with imprisonment" means an offence for which no offender may be sentenced to imprisonment.