A maximum penalty is prescribed for the worst class of the offence and, where the maximum is very high (such as 25 years), it provides only general assistance for offences well below the upper end of the scale. The maximum is like a lighthouse — a navigational aid, not a destination. Steering by the maximum may decrease as well as increase a sentence. For attempting to pervert the course of justice by making multiple threats to a police officer to influence a prosecution, sentences of 12 and 15 months' imprisonment were manifestly inadequate and were increased to two years.
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