Extra-legal factors that impact on sentencing decisions

Abstract

Unjustifiable inconsistencies in sentencing have been a cause for concern for over a century. In this chapter, the author evaluates the empirical evidence that such extra-legal factors as a defendant's race and physical attractiveness, and characteristics of magistrates and judges, influence the severity of the sentence imposed. The evidence is discussed and policy implications considered against the backdrop of the contemporary legal framework for sentencing in western English-speaking common law countries, including constraints on judicial discretion, the concepts of 'sentence' and 'disparity' and the nature of the sentence decision-making process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)