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Juror and community views of the guilty plea sentencing discount: findings from a national Australian study
Citation
Warner, K and Spiranovic, C and Bartels, L and Roberts, L and Gelb, K, Juror and community views of the guilty plea sentencing discount: findings from a national Australian study, Criminology & Criminal Justice, 22, (1) pp. 78-96. ISSN 1748-8958 (2022) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2020 the authors. Accepted for publication in Criminology & Criminal Justice.
DOI: doi:10.1177/1748895820956703
Abstract
A plea of guilty is a long-accepted factor mitigating sentence in many countries, including Australia, although academic debate over the merits and application of the discount is ongoing. This paper presents findings from a national Australian study on public opinion on the guilty plea sentencing discount, with a particular focus on sexual offences. Survey data were drawn from 989 jurors in cases that resulted in a guilty verdict and 450 unempanelled jurors and 306 online respondents who were provided with vignettes based on real cases. A third of the respondents would have supported a discount in their case if the offender had pleaded guilty. In contrast, more than one half of the respondents surveyed, who had received a vignette with a guilty plea scenario, supported an increment in sentence if the offender had gone to trial. There was more support for a discount in cases involving non-sexual violent offences versus sexual offences and adult versus child victims. Where a discount was supported, this most commonly was a reduction in the length of custodial sentence, with online respondents allocating the least generous discounts. Willingness to accept a sentencing discount was predicted by a range of variables including gender, education, punitive attitudes, offence type and offence seriousness. We conclude by considering the implications of our findings for sentencing law and practice.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | guilty plea discount, sentencing and public opinion, sex offence sentencing |
| Research Division: | Human Society |
| Research Group: | Criminology |
| Research Field: | Courts and sentencing |
| Objective Division: | Law, Politics and Community Services |
| Objective Group: | Justice and the law |
| Objective Field: | Criminal justice |
| UTAS Author: | Warner, K (Professor Kate Warner) |
| UTAS Author: | Spiranovic, C (Dr Caroline Spiranovic) |
| ID Code: | 140876 |
| Year Published: | 2022 (online first 2020) |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 1 |
| Deposited By: | Law |
| Deposited On: | 2020-09-14 |
| Last Modified: | 2022-01-05 |
| Downloads: | 17 View Download Statistics |
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