Theories of crime, attitudes to punishment and juror bias amongst police, offenders and the general public (original) (raw)

1994

Abstract A questionnaire was constructed to investigate theories of criminality, pre-trial juror bias and attitudes towards punishment amongst three groups: police officers, a sample of the general public and a group of offenders. It was anticipated that police would be prosecutor biased, advocate harsher sentences for criminal acts and be inclined to view crime as a deviation from a socially acceptable norm—a 'consensus' view.

Why sentence? Comparing the views of jurors, judges and the legislature on the purposes of sentencing in Victoria, Australia

Criminology & Criminal Justice, 2017

In recent times, parliaments have introduced legislation directing judges to take defined purposes into account when sentencing. At the same time, judges and politicians also acknowledge that sentencing should vindicate the values of the community. This article compares the views on the purposes of sentencing of three major participants in the criminal justice system: legislators who pass sentencing statutes, judges who impose and justify sentences and jurors who represent the community. A total of 987 Australian jurors in the Victorian Jury Sentencing Study (2013–2015) were asked to sentence the offender in their trial and to choose the purpose that best justified the sentence. The judges’ sentencing remarks were coded and the results were compared with the jurors’ surveys. The research shows that, in this jurisdiction, the views of the judges, the jurors and the legislators are not always well aligned. Judges relied on general deterrence much more than jurors and jurors selected i...

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