Arie Freiberg

Since the 1970s, sentencing in many countries has evolved from a system in which courts enjoyed wide discretion to one where courts must follow or at least consider guideline recommendations. This movement towards greater structure has also led to the creation of independent bodies-sentencing commissions or councils-which now sit alongside courts of appeal and play a pivotal role in guiding courts, advising legislators, and communicating with the public. Sentencing commissions and councils perform a wide range of other functions including increasing transparency and promoting fairness, consistency, and public confidence in the courts. In Sentencing Guidelines and Commissions, Julian V. Roberts, Arie Freiberg, and Rhys Hester synthesize existing literature on commissions and guidelines, identify key issues and problems, and clarify the future of commissions and guidelines since the creation of the first commissions in 1980. Drawing upon almost fifty years of additional developments and accumulated research on guidelines, commissions, and councils, the authors explore the benefits of sentencing councils and commissions and sentencing guidelines. Further, the authors look back to the cumulative experience around the world since the first guidelines were created and propose a model regime for legislatures to consider. The first book on sentencing guidelines and commissions to take an international perspective, Sentencing Guidelines and Commissions aims to determine whether and how guidelines may solve, or at least mitigate, some of the problems of current sentencing practice.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world’s leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. This essential Advanced Introduction provides an overview of the principles and practices of sentencing adult offenders in common law countries such as the UK, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa. It explores how sentencing authority is distributed and the rationale and methods behind sentencing. Adopting a multijurisdictional approach, Arie Freiberg and Julian Roberts examine the factors that common law courts consider when sentencing. They outline a variety of aggravating and mitigating circumstances, investigate how judges make their decisions and how guidance is provided to judges by various bodies including legislatures, appellate courts and sentencing commissions. The book further identifies the extensive range of sanctions that are available to courts, analysing their effectiveness and efficiency. Key Features:Detailed coverage of all aspects of sentencingnternational research across a range of common law jurisdictions. Presents valuable insights drawn from the authors’ experiences of working on sentencing commissions and councils in common law jurisdictions over the past five decades. Scholars and students of law, criminology, penology and public policy will greatly benefit from this highly informative Advanced Introduction. It is also a vital resource for practitioners and policymakers in criminal law and justice.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world’s leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. This essential Advanced Introduction provides an overview of the principles and practices of sentencing adult offenders in common law countries such as the UK, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa. It explores how sentencing authority is distributed and the rationale and methods behind sentencing. Adopting a multijurisdictional approach, Arie Freiberg and Julian Roberts examine the factors that common law courts consider when sentencing. They outline a variety of aggravating and mitigating circumstances, investigate how judges make their decisions and how guidance is provided to judges by various bodies including legislatures, appellate courts and sentencing commissions. The book further identifies the extensive range of sanctions that are available to courts, analysing their effectiveness and efficiency. Key Features:Detailed coverage of all aspects of sentencingnternational research across a range of common law jurisdictions. Presents valuable insights drawn from the authors’ experiences of working on sentencing commissions and councils in common law jurisdictions over the past five decades. Scholars and students of law, criminology, penology and public policy will greatly benefit from this highly informative Advanced Introduction. It is also a vital resource for practitioners and policymakers in criminal law and justice.

This book explores key issues in relation to parole and public opinion, including the relevance of public opinion to parole boards decision-making and strategies for increasing public confidence in parole. It presents the findings of semi-structured interviews with 80 members of parole authorities in 12 jurisdictions, across Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Scotland. Unlike judicial processes, which are open to the public, there is little awareness of and research on the work of parole authorities. This book therefore shines a light on a little-understood, but hotly-contested, aspect of the criminal justice system. Specifically, it explores differences across the study jurisdictions and considers how parole authorities in the four study countries view public attitudes, as well as the role of the media in shaping public attitudes towards parole. The book also considers whether public reaction matters for parole board decision-making and the interplay between informing the public and offender reintegration. It explores a range of strategies which may improve public confidence in parole and therefore the criminal justice system more broadly. This includes consideration of the value, definition and possibility of public confidence. The authors then discuss both passive forms, such as parole authority websites, publication of decisions and social media, before examining active forms of engagement, including an information/liaison officer, roadshows and community fora.

This book explores victims’ views of plea negotiations and the level of input that they desire. It draws on the empirical findings of the first in-depth study of victims and plea negotiations conducted in Australia. Over the last 50 years, the criminal justice system has seen major changes in both the role that victims play in the justice process and in how the vast majority of criminal cases are finalised. Guilty pleas have become the norm, and many of these result fromnegotiations between the prosecutor and the defence. The extent to which the victim is one of the participating parties in plea negotiations however, is a question of law and of practice. Drawing from focus groups and surveys with victims of crime, Victims and Plea Negotiations seeks to privilege victims’ voices and lived experiences of plea negotiations, to present their perspectives on five options for enhanced participation in this legal process. This book appeals to academicsand students in the areas of law, criminology, sociology, victimology and legal studies, those who practice in the criminal justice system generally, those who work with victims, and policy makers.

Despite a popular view that trials are the focal point of the criminal justice process, in reality, the most frequent way a criminal matter resolves is not through a fiercely fought battle between state and defendant, but instead through a process of negotiation between the prosecution and defence, resulting in a defendant pleading guilty in exchange for agreed concessions from the prosecution. This book presents an original empirical case-study of plea negotiations drawing upon interviews with legal actors and an analysis of defence practitioner case files, to shine light on the processes and ways in which an agreed outcome is reached in criminal prosecutions, within the setting of a jurisdiction, like many others world-wide, which is suffering major shifts in state resources. Plea negotiations, also referred to as “plea bargaining”, “negotiated guilty pleas” and “negotiated resolutions” are neither an alloyed benefit nor a detriment for defendants, victims or the criminal justice system generally, and like all compromises, this book shows how the perfect “justice” outcome gives way to the good, or just the reasonably acceptable justice outcome.

Despite a popular view that trials are the focal point of the criminal justice process, in reality, the most frequent way a criminal matter resolves is not through a fiercely fought battle between state and defendant, but instead through a process of negotiation between the prosecution and defence, resulting in a defendant pleading guilty in exchange for agreed concessions from the prosecution. This book presents an original empirical case-study of plea negotiations drawing upon interviews with legal actors and an analysis of defence practitioner case files, to shine light on the processes and ways in which an agreed outcome is reached in criminal prosecutions, within the setting of a jurisdiction, like many others world-wide, which is suffering major shifts in state resources. Plea negotiations, also referred to as “plea bargaining”, “negotiated guilty pleas” and “negotiated resolutions” are neither an alloyed benefit nor a detriment for defendants, victims or the criminal justice system generally, and like all compromises, this book shows how the perfect “justice” outcome gives way to the good, or just the reasonably acceptable justice outcome.