Mind the step: A more insightful and robust analysis of the sentencing process in England and Wales under the new sentencing guidelines

The ‘England and Wales Sentencing Guidelines’ aim to promote consistency by organizing the sentencing process as a sequence of steps, with initial judicial assessments subsequently adjusted to reflect relevant case characteristics. Yet, existing evaluations of the guidelines have failed to incorpora...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Pina-Sánchez, Jose (Author)
Contributors: Li, Guangquan ; Brunton-Smith, Ian
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: [2020]
In: Criminology & criminal justice
Year: 2020, Volume: 20, Issue: 3, Pages: 268-301
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
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Keywords:
Compliance
Consistency
Crown Court
Mediating effects
Multivariate multilevel modelling
Sentencing Guidelines
Description
Summary:The ‘England and Wales Sentencing Guidelines’ aim to promote consistency by organizing the sentencing process as a sequence of steps, with initial judicial assessments subsequently adjusted to reflect relevant case characteristics. Yet, existing evaluations of the guidelines have failed to incorporate this structure adequately, instead concentrating solely on sentence outcomes. We use multivariate multilevel models to offer new insights into the decisions made throughout the sentencing process. Focusing on cases of assault sentenced at the Crown Court we show that the level of compliance with the guidelines is high. However, we also show that some case characteristics are being unduly considered at more than one stage of the sentencing process, meaning existing studies may be underestimating their true influence.
ISSN:1748-8966
DOI:10.1177/1748895818811891