International criminal justice is challenged to better reflect legitimate victim interest. This book provides a framework for achieving synthesis between restorative and retributive dimensions within international criminal trials in order to achieve the peace-making aspirations of the International Criminal Court.

International criminal justice is challenged to better reflect legitimate victim interest. This book provides a framework for achieving synthesis between restorative and retributive dimensions within international criminal trials in order to achieve the peace-making aspirations of the International Criminal Court.

This book discusses the under-researched relationship between sentencing and the legitimacy of punishment. It argues that there is an increasing gap between what is perceived as legitimate punishment and the sentencing decisions of the criminal courts. Drawing on a wide variety of empirical research evidence, the book explores how sentencing could be developed within a more socially-inclusive framework for the delivery of trial justice. In the international context, such developments are directly relevant to the future role of the International Criminal Court, especially its ability to deliver more coherent and inclusive trial outcomes that contribute to social reconstruction. Similarly, in the national context, these issues have a vital role to play in helping to re-position trial justice as a credible cornerstone of criminal justice governance where social diversity persists. In so doing the book should help policy-makers in appreciating the likely implications for criminal trials of ‘mainstreaming’ restorative forms of justice. Sentencing and the Legitimacy of Trial Justice firmly ties the issue of legitimacy to the relevant context for delivering ‘justice’. It suggests a need to develop the tools and methods for achieving this and offers some novel solutions to this complex problem. This book will be a valuable resource for graduate students, academics, practitioners and policy makers in the field of criminal justice as well as scholars interested in socio-legal and cross-disciplinary approaches to the analysis of criminal process and sentencing and the development of theory and comparative methodology in this area.

Sentencing is the process through which the legitimacy of punishment is declared and justified. However, it is increasingly portrayed as a social activity which should be more responsive to the pluralistic needs and values of individuals and communities in contemporary society. It will therefore have to adapt to an array of different perceptions of what justice is and how it should be delivered, as well as different sensitivities and emotional responses to sentencing processes and outcomes. At a time when fundamental questions are being asked about the relevance of existing forms of punishment in contemporary society, Sentencing argues for a profound normative understanding of the relationship between sentencing and its perception by citizens – vital if we are to fully comprehend the nature and significance of punishment, and the particular challenges it faces as a force for social cohesion. Henham explores this theme by focusing on key areas of debate within the field: the treatment of gender and race in sentencing the future role of sentencing in criminal justice governance the development of new criteria for evaluating sentencing within a more socially-inclusive framework. Henham suggests that a greater focus on the relationship between penal ideology and the impact of sentencing in the wider community is essential for effective future policy-making in this area. Sentencing will be useful for both undergraduate and postgraduate students of law, criminology, criminal justice and sociology, as well as for academics and criminal justice policymakers.

In Beyond Punishment?, Zachary Hoskins offers a philosophical examination of the collateral legal consequences of conviction. Considering how pervasive collateral restrictions have become and the dramatic effects such restrictions have on offenders' lives, Hoskins examines whether these extended measures of punishment are ever morally justified.

International sentencing has become significant given the numerous events on the world stage which have focused attention on the justifications and adequacy of punishment for heinous crimes such as genocide and crimes against humanity. In addition to providing a detailed evaluation of the philosophical and theoretical difficulties raised by this rapidly developing area of international criminal justice, this book provides an integrated socio-legal analysis of the law and process of international sentencing. It considers the rationale and development of international sentencing structures and processes, the nature and scope of legal and procedural constraints on decision-making, as well as access to justice and rights issues. The book discusses sentencing within the context of international criminal law and examines internationalized trial processes and alternative mechanisms for resolution. In seeking to comprehend the punishment of international crimes through the comparative contextual analysis of trial processes, it challenges our present understanding of how and why particular sentencing outcomes are produced and the perceived legitimacy of international trial justice.