Scholars attribute the public’s low level of knowledge about sentencing and corrections to its lack of extensive criminal justice experience and consequent reliance on the media for justice-related information. However, scant research exists that evaluates how criminal justice experience affects media consumption, or how such consumption may influence knowledge about sentencing laws or the exte...

In sentencing guilty defendants, jurors and judges weigh 'mitigating circumstances', which create sympathy for a defendant. Here we use functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure neural activity in ordinary citizens who are potential jurors, as they decide on mitigation of punishment for murder. We found that sympathy activated regions associated with mentalising and moral conflict (dorso...

Impact Statements (VIS). The new law which took effect in January 1989 requires that VIS material be put before the court by prosecutors so as to inform the judge of any physical or mental harm, any loss or damage to property suffered by a victim as a result of a crime. This article presents the results of evaluation studies of VIS in South Australia and their implications for the role of victi...

In jurisdictions with two or more tiers of criminal courts, some defendants can choose the type of trial court to be tried in. This may involve a trade-off between the probability of acquittal/conviction and the estimated severity of sentence if convicted. For instance, in England and Wales, the lower courts have a higher conviction rate but limited sentencing powers, whereas the higher courts ...

Although there have been a number of recent developments in criminal justice research on the topic structural inequality sentencing, much work is needed to explore judicial perspective. Researchers use this paper illustrates how study used qualitative semi-structure interviews current perspectives sentencing minor drug offenders Indonesia. This reports when Firstly, it reviews existing option a...

Beyond public fascination, there are practical realities of today’s courts that concern evil. In 39 American states, and in federal jurisdictions, statutes allow for judges and juries to enhance penalties for convicted offenders if they decide the crime committed was “heinous,” “atrocious,” “depraved,” “wanton,” or otherwise exceptional. Recent court decisions in cases of murder, kidnapping, as...