2. Penal servitude, which in 1853 was substituted for transportation to penal settlements outside the United Kingdom. The minimum term of penal servitude is three years (Penal Servitude Act 1891), and the sentence is carried out in a convict prison, in the United Kingdom, but there is still power to send the convicts out of the United Kingdom.
3. Imprisonment in a local prison, which must be without hard labour unless a statute specially authorizes a sentence of hard labour. At common law there is no limit to a term of imprisonment for misdemeanour; but for many offences (both felonies and misdemeanours) the term is limited by statute to two years, and in practice this limit is not exceeded for any offence. The treatment of prisoners is regulated by the prison acts and rules.
4. Police supervision, on conviction or indictment of felony and certain misdemeanours after a previous conviction of such offences. Prevention of Crimes Act, c. 112, §§ 8, 20.
5. Pecuniary fine, a punishment appropriate only to misdemeanours and never imposed for a felony except under statutory authority, e.g. manslaughter (Offences against the Person Act, § 5). The amount of the fine is in the discretion of the judge, subject to the directions of Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights and of any statute limiting the maximum for a particular offence.
6. Whipping was a common law punishment for misdemeanants of either sex. Under the present law the whipping of females is prohibited, and the punishment is not inflicted on males except under statutory authority, which is given in the case of certain assaults on the sovereign, of certain forms of robbery with violence or assaults with intent to commit felony (Garrotters Act 1863), of incorrigible rogues, larceny and malicious damage, and certain other offences by youthful offenders.
7. Recognizances (caution) to keep peace and be of good behaviour, i.e. a bond with or without sureties creating a debt to the crown not enforceable unless the conditions as to conduct therein made are broken. This bond may be taken from any misdemeanant, and, under statutory authority, from persons convicted of any felony (except murder) falling within the Criminal Law Consolidation Acts of 1861.
8. In the case of any offence which is not capital the court, if it is a first offence or if any other grounds for mercy appear, may simply bind the offender over to come up for judgment when required, intimating to him that if his conduct is good no further steps will be taken to punish him.
Except in the case of the death penalty, the court of trial has a discretion as to the quantum of a particular punishment, no minimum being fixed. In the case of offences punishable on summary conviction the maximum punishment is always fixed by statute. It consists of imprisonment with or without hard labour, or a fine of a limited amount, or both. The imprisonment in very few cases may exceed six months. If the maximum exceeds three months the accused must be informed that he has a right, if he so elects, to be tried by a jury.
Where power is given to deal summarily with offences which under ordinary circumstances would be tried on indictment, the punishments are as follows (Summary Jurisdiction Act 1879):—
(a) In the case of adults pleading guilty, imprisonment not exceeding six months without the option of a fine.