The consequences of a person's prior crimes remain after the debt to society is paid and the
sentence is discharged. While the practice of using prior convictions to enhance the severity …

Punishment policies and practices in the United States today are unprincipled, chaotic, and
much too often unjust. The financial costs are enormous. The moral cost is greater: countless …

Abstract Sentencing in England and Wales has evolved in a direction apart from other
common law countries. Although sentencing problems found in many Western nations are …

Concern for equality and human dignity is largely absent from American sentencing. Prison
sentences are imposed much more often than in any other Western country. Prison terms …

Although women represent a small minority of the prison population in all nations, it has long
been a concern that custody is overused with respect to female offenders. Reducing the …

The 'totality principle'in law aims to show mercy to offenders in multiple-offence (MO) cases
and retain ordinal proportionality in punishing those who commit different categories of …

An offender's criminal record is nearly always discussed during sentencing. The
incorporation of the criminal history of offenders by judges into sentencing decisions …

Sentencing guidelines were an exclusively American enterprise until recently. Since 2004,
however, other countries have joined in. Contrasting approaches are exemplified by …

Members of racial, ethnic, and Indigenous minorities have long accounted for
disproportionate percentages of prison admissions in Western nations and of prison …

In recent years, a range of western jurisdictions has introduced reforms designed to restrict
and guide judicial discretion at sentencing. The reforms enacted include mandatory …