A burglar who wrecked a charity shop and a woman who battered a stranger outside a club are among those who walked free from court this week.
They joined a drug dealer who was found with pepper spray and a man who drunkenly attacked a friend and his aunt in being handed suspended sentences.
Judges and magistrates take many things into account when sentencing defendants.
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Early guilty pleas, previous good character and mitigating circumstances can all mean it is deemed in the interests of justice not to send someone to prison.
But anyone given a suspended sentence has to abide by its terms - and if they offend again they face an uphill battle not to go to jail.
Here are some of the people who could have gone to jail immediately but were given a second chance this week.
Ryan Cunningham
A drug dealer caught with pepper spray said he bought it from the shopping website Wish to display at home.
Ryan Cunningham was arrested when police stopped his dad's car and found him with a rucksack full of cannabis.
Officers then searched his home and found more drugs and a capsaicin canister - commonly called pepper spray.
But the 26-year-old was spared jail after a judge accepted he had bought the illegal weapon to display in a glass cabinet and not to protect his drug supply.
Recorder Killeen handed Cunningham an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with a 15-day Rehabilitation Activity Requirement and 150 hours of unpaid work.
He warned: "I don't want to see you again in a dock in a crown court Mr Cunningham."
Gary Dutton
Gary Dutton and Jack Roberts ransacked a British Heart Foundation shop on West Derby Road as well as a phone repair shop in Old Swan last year.
Yet dad-of-three Dutton walked free after a judge said sending him to jail would make his children homeless.
Peter Hussey, prosecuting, said the pair left both shops facing thousands in losses due to the damage they caused and the items they stole.
He told Liverpool Crown Court the men burgled the mobile phone shop in Old Swan on October 10, 2021, breaking through the rear door and taking electronic devices worth just under £2,500 as well as some cash.
Roberts, who also burgled a nursery separately and has a worse criminal record, was jailed.
The court heard Dutton's family suffered the loss of his wife as well as his father and sister in recent years.
Judge Neil Flewitt QC said he therefore accepted that jailing Dutton put his three children at risk of homelessness.
However, he told him that if he committed any more offences that he would likely go to jail and it would be his fault if his children lost their home.
Liam Wharton
A drunk man knocked a woman out cold and broke her nephew’s finger by biting it.
Liam Wharton launched a sickening attack on Debbie Peers after she tried to defuse an argument at a party on September 8, 2019.
The 31-year-old also bit Ryan Peers, his friend and Mrs Peers’ nephew, so hard on the finger, he broke it.
Wharton had been at a party at the home of Ryan Peers' parents when he became involved in a drunken argument with another guest.
After leaving the home in Fazakerley he later returned and punched Debbie Peers before biting Ryan Peers.
Judge Clement Goldstone QC allowed Wharton to walk free after hearing a plea from Mrs Peers not to deprive his children of their dad.
Wharton, of Alt Side Court, Liverpool, was sentenced to 21 months in prison, suspended for two years.
Judge Goldstone ordered him to pay £10,000 in compensation to Ms Peers and £1,500 to Ryan Peers.
He will also be required to undertake 30 rehabilitation days and pay the victim surcharge as well as prosecution costs.
Rhiannon Sweeney
One half of a couple who waited outside a nightclub for two women and then battered them was handed a suspended sentence earlier this week.
Courtney Smith and Rhiannon Sweeney attacked Jorden Pilkington and Jeanette Wills outside Empire bar in St Helens on Saturday, October 26, 2019.
Liverpool Crown Court heard the pair targeted their victims after an argument inside the club and waited outside to attack them.
Smith was charged with the more serious offence of wounding after perforating Ms Wills' eardrum and was jailed.
However, Sweeney was charged with assault on Miss Pilkington and was given a second chance by Judge Brian Cummings QC on Thursday.
Smith, of Elmsfield Close, was jailed for a year while Sweeney was handed a nine month jail term, suspended for two years.
