Proportionate Sentencing Exlporing the Principles

Author: Andrew Von Hirsch; Andrew Ashworth
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780199272600
Published In: May 2005
Format: Hardback , 252 pages
Jurisdiction: U.K. ? Disclaimer:
Countri(es) stated herein are used as reference only

Out of stock

Description
Contents
Author
Reviews

Details

Re-examines the concept of giving criminal their 'just deserts'
Explores the relevance of restorative justice to proportionality theory
Considers its applicability to the cases of dangerous, socially deprived, or juvenile offenders

The principle that a sentence should be proportionate to the seriousness of the offence remains at the centre of penal practice and scholarly debate. This volume explores highly topical aspects of proportionality theory that require examination and further analysis. von Hirsch and Ashworth explore the relevance of the principle of proportionality to the sentencing of young offenders, the possible reasons for departing from the principle when sentencing dangerous offenders, and the application of the principle to socially deprived offenders. They examine the claim that the principle tends to be associated with greater severity in sentencing, and explore the relevance of penance and of restorative justice to proportionality theory.

Their examination of arguments and counter-arguments culminates in a re-statement of the main criteria for proportionate sentencing.

The authors are well known for their previous writings on proportionality theory, and this volume broadens the theory to deal with important contemporary issues in crime and punishment.

Readership: Scholars and students of sentencing and punishment, criminology and politics.

1: Introduction: The Scope of this Book
2: The Justification for Punishment's Existence: Censure and Prevention
3: Proportionate Sentences for Juvenile Offenders
4: Extending Sentences for Dangerous Offenders? The Bottoms-Brownsword Model
5: Proportionate Punishment and Social Deprivation
6: Proportionality and Punitiveness?
7: Proportionality and the 'Penance' Perspective
8: with Clifford Shearing: Restorative Justice: A 'Making Amends' Model?
9: Criteria for Proportionality: A Review
Appendix 1. Equity Factors in Sentencing
Appendix 2. Limiting Retributivism and 'Modified' Desert
Gauging Crime Seriousness: A 'Living-Standard' Conception of Criminal Harm

Andrew von Hirsch, Honorary Professor of Penal Theory and Penal Law, University of Cambridge, and Andrew Ashworth, Vinerian Professor of English Law, University of Oxford
Contributors:
with Clifford Shearing

"...von Hirsch and Ashworth present us with a set of theoretically sophisticated and pragmatically sensible observations on a series of difficult and pressing issues...frequently subtle and complex...[an] honest and thoughtful discussion of the subject of state punishment." - Youngjae Lee, Criminal Law and Philosophy 2007 1:227-231

"...a scholarly and erudite contribution...we must endeavour to understand fully the developments of theory, and this book is a sound starting place." - Judge Gilles Renaud, The Criminal Law Quarterly, vol 52, 275-280