Xmas DA - Sentencing!

This December, The Differential Association will get together to have a festive chin-wag about sentencing (what makes it festive, you say, the port and the woolly jumpers!). The reading material is a recent article by Julian V Roberts and Jan W de Keijser which explores the question of who is qualified or entitled to pass sentence, and the role of the public in decision-making:

This essay explores and critiques a theory of criminal justice which privileges the role of public intuitions about punishment over more traditional influences on sentencing principles and practice. This movement may be termed ‘Democratising Punishment’ and it has important consequences for sentencing in all jurisdictions. Several recent books advocate reforms such as deriving sentencing principles from public opinion research or sentencing by juries rather than legal professionals. In the essay we critique this perspective and note the threats to principled sentencing arising from greater public involvement in the sentencing of offenders.

When: Wednesday 3rd December at 6pm

Where: Mulligan's Back Room, Poolbeg Street, Dublin 2