SECTION-29 REVISED - PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS IN SENTENCING

This article considers the recent statutory revision of section 29 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991. The authors argue that the new section 29 does not confer a general discretion upon sentencers to take accoun t of an offender's previous convictions. The new provisions, when seen in the context of the 1991 Act as a whole, retain the principle of pr ogressive loss of mitigation, and permit aggravation of sentence only in certain restricted situations which the authors describe.