Combining the latest work of leading sentencing and punishment scholars from twelve different countries, this major new international volume answers key questions in the study of sentencing and society. It presents not only a rigorous examination of the latest legal and empirical research from around the world, but also reveals the workings of sentencing within society and as a social practice. Traditionally, work in the field of sentencing has been dominated by legal and philosophical approaches. Distinctively, this volume provides a more sociological approach to sentencing: so allowing...

Published in 1999. Scottish criminal law and procedure are very different from their counterparts elsewhere in the United Kingdom. This book is the first socio-legal account of the Scottish criminal justice process and its constituent institutions. Its aims are: to explain the operation of the various elements which make up the `system'; to summarise the considerable volume of relevant Scottish research; and to locate this knowledge within contemporary theorising about criminal justice. To this end, the editors commissioned a team of experts to write chapters on the various stages of...