Mitigation and Aggravation at Sentencing

by Edited by Julian V. Roberts

• ISBN13: 9780521197809
• ISBN10: 0521197805
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-10-17
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This innovative volume explores a fundamental issue in the field of sentencing: the factors which make a sentence more or less severe. All sentencing systems allow courts discretion to consider mitigating and aggravating factors, and many legislatures have placed a number of such factors on a statutory footing. Yet many questions remain regarding the theory and practice of mitigation and aggravation. Drawing on legal and sociological perspectives and examining mitigation and aggravation in various jurisdictions, the essays provide practical illustrations of specific factors as well as theoretical justifications. After the foreword by Andrew von Hirsch, a number of contributors address broad conceptual issues raised at sentencing. These contributions are followed by several empirical chapters including an exploration of personal mitigation in English courts. The authors are leading scholars from a range of common law jurisdictions including England and Wales, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Author Biography

Julian V. Roberts is a professor of criminology in the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, and a member of the Sentencing Council of England and Wales. He is Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Criminology and Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Table of Contents

List of tables	p. ix
List of contributors	p. x
Foreword	p. xiii
Acknowledgments	p. xvii
Punishing, more or less: exploring aggravation and mitigation at sentencing	p. 1
Re-evaluating the justifications for aggravation and mitigation at sentencing	p. 21
The search for principles of mitigation: integrating cultural demands	p. 40
Personal mitigation and assumptions about offending and desistance	p. 60
Intoxication as a sentencing factor: mitigation or aggravation?	p. 81
Beyond the partial excuse: Australasian approaches to provocation as a sentencing factor	p. 102
Equality before the law: racial and social background factors as sources of mitigation at sentencing	p. 124
Personal mitigation: an empirical analysis in England and Wales	p. 146
Exploring public attitudes to sentencing factors in England and Wales	p. 168
The pernicious impact of perceived public opinion on sentencing: findings from an empirical study of the public's approach to personal mitigation	p. 188
Addressing problematic sentencing factors in the development of guidelines	p. 208
Proof of aggravating and mitigating facts at sentencing	p. 228
Mitigation in federal sentencing in the United States	p. 247
The discretionary effect of mitigating and aggravating factors: A South African case study	p. 261
Index	p. 278
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