01 February 2021
The Crime, Justice and Society Seminar Series

Towards a map of sentencing

Dr Mojca Plesničar, Institute of Criminology at the Faculty of Law Ljubljana



Abstract

Scholars have been looking at various facets of sentencing for a long time. Some explore its philosophical and conceptual foundations; others look at its sociological reality; others still at psychological underpinnings of the sentencing process and decision-making more generally. From a legal perspective, we often start with analysing the various systems of structuring sentencing discretion, only occasionally diving into procedural issues as well. Typically, all these layers overlap in practice to produce a final sentencing decision. The various dimensions, however, often remain separated in academic work. I propose that we take a wider look at sentencing and attempt at collating them in one multi-dimensional map that would paint a more comprehensive picture of sentencing.