Sentencing and the Legitimacy of Trial Justice

'Henham examines the relationship between public perceptions of the legitimacy of criminal punishment, generated by a diverse society with often conflicting standards of empathy and moral satisfaction, and the actual sentencing practices and penal ideologies operating in the criminal justice system. One of the core aims of the book is to translate a looming crisis of legitimacy into practical terms of the future role of criminal justice. Henham takes a broad view of criminal punishment as reflecting community concerns as well as the specific guilt of an individual. He draws on international courts, such as the tribunals of Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and domestic common-law systems of Western Europe.'

—Book News

'The book artfully explores unchartered territory. It attempts to explain the void in the discussion between sentencing outcomes and the public’s perception of the legitimacy of our criminal justice system. Current theory and research of the structure, policies, and processes that affect sentencing do not adequately reflect, or even acknowledge, society’s perception of individual sentencing outcomes as it relates to the public’s broader sense of justice. Henham seeks to fill this void by describing how public perception may reflect, and affect, criminal justice system within the concept of legitimacy. While other scholars have presented legitimacy as a part of the criminal justice dialogue, Henham explores legitimacy through the lens of morality and the sometimes conflicting community norms and values.'

'For anyone interested in more broadly considering criminal justice and its widening detachment from societal perception and diverse community norms and morality, Sentencing and the Legitimacy of Trial Justice is wonderfully eye-opening. Henham compels the reader to reevaluate one’s views about the court’s discretion at sentencing, specifically how such discretion can be mobilized to evade the impending perils that he outlines in the book. Against the backdrop of legitimacy, and perceived legitimacy, Henham invites us to reconsider the fundamental underpinnings of trial justice and our criminal justice systems. The sentencing court, in fact, does communicate with the community it protects in individual cases upon pronouncing its sentencing outcomes in individual cases. We should pay greater attention to the message conveyed. To read Henham’s latest work is to be convinced that any level or form of government must engage in thoughtful consideration of morality, societal norms and values, and diverse public perceptions when wrestling with issues of judicial discretion and sentencing.'

-Wes Reber Porter, Golden Gate University School of Law, San Francisco, in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice Books, March '12