What other nations have procedures which allow for extensions of sentences?We do.
The Attorney General may, under certain circumstances, appeal an Unduly Lenient Sentence. From the Crown Prosecution Service (http://cps.gov.uk/legal/section19/chapter_i.html) website:
Sections 35 (Archbold, 7-302) and 36 (Archbold, 7-304) Criminal Justice Act 1988 ("the Act") empower the Attorney General to apply to the Court of Appeal for leave to refer for review any sentence which:
appears to the Attorney to be unduly lenient ;
was passed on an offender for a limited range of offences ;
was passed in the Crown Court ; and
a written application for leave to refer, signed by the Attorney, is lodged with the Registrar of Criminal Appeals within 28 days of the sentence being passed. The 28 day time limit is absolute: prosecutors must ensure cases are handled expeditiously so that the time limit is met.
What is an 'unduly lenient sentence'?
The unduly lenient sentencing regime applies to sentences that are unduly lenient and not to sentences that are simply lenient.
Lord Lane CJ has set out the approach to section 36 of the Act <Attorney General's Reference No.4 of 1989 11 Cr App R(S) 517> :
"A sentence is unduly lenient.where it falls outside the range of sentences which the judge, applying his mind to all the relevant factors, could reasonably consider appropriate. In that connection, regard must of course be had to reported cases, and in particular to the guidance given by this Court from time to time in the so-called guideline cases"
Further guidance has been given by Lord Lane CJ <Attorney General's Reference No.5 of 1989 11 Cr App R(S) 489> . Before the Court grants an application of this sort, it must be shown that there was some error of principle in the judge's sentence; that in the absence of the sentence being altered by the Court, public confidence would be damaged; and that the Court should only grant leave in exceptional circumstances, and not in borderline cases.
A sentence can be referred to the Court of Appeal by the Attorney as an unduly lenient sentence if it appears to him that the judge erred in law as to his powers of sentencing, or failed to impose a sentence required by sections 109(2), 110(2) or 111(2) of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 <refer to mandatory/minimum custodial sentences, elsewhere in this guidance>.