Abstract
Sentencing represents a key symbolic moment in a larger criminal justice process when the outcome of this process, the offender’s punishment, is declared in public for all to hear. As the declaration of sentence occurs at the end point of a process that begins with the police decision to arrest and charge, it is undoubtedly influenced by the stages that have gone before. As Garland (1990) has observed, sentencing involves many more people than just the sentencers and those who are sentenced. It also involves the onlookers (the general public) and a range of other actors including prosecutors, defence solicitors and probation officers. To add to its complexity, sentencing systems are embedded within and influenced by specific social, political, cultural, historic and economic contexts (Hogarth, 1971; Hutton, 2006).
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | The Routledge Handbook of Irish Criminology |
Publisher | Taylor and Francis |
Pages | 298-318 |
Number of pages | 21 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781317698173 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781138019430 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 01 Jan 2015 |