2134/4099
Andrew Millie
Andrew
Millie
Jacqueline Tombs
Jacqueline
Tombs
Mike Hough
Mike
Hough
Borderline sentencing: a comparison of sentencers’ decision making in England and Wales, and Scotland
Loughborough University
2009
Borderline cases
England and Wales
Scotland
Sentencers
Sentencing
Language, Communication and Culture not elsewhere classified
Studies in Human Society not elsewhere classified
2009-01-16 14:41:25
Journal contribution
https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/Borderline_sentencing_a_comparison_of_sentencers_decision_making_in_England_and_Wales_and_Scotland/9477686
This article draws together findings from two related studies of
sentencing in England and Wales, and Scotland. It examines how
sentencers in the two jurisdictions differ in their sentencing
decision making, with a focus on cases on the borderline between
prison and a community penalty. The article suggests that, despite
differences in legal systems and criminal justice structures,
sentencers’ decision making in the two jurisdictions was remarkably
similar. In both jurisdictions they took account of a wide range of
factors in reaching their decisions, among which the legal category
of the offence under sentence was often subsidiary to other
considerations. The main difference between the two jurisdictions
was the much more dramatic rate of increase in the adult prison
population in England and Wales than in Scotland. Several possible
explanations are offered for this, including the literal and
metaphorical distance of Scotland from Westminster and the greater
impact of sentencing guidance south of the border—which has
probably had a largely unintended inflationary effect on the prison
population.