NCJ Number
186377
Journal
International Journal of the Sociology of Law Volume: 28 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2000 Pages: 15-32
Editor(s)
John Carrier,
Stephen Savage
Date Published
2000
Length
18 pages
Annotation
The author considers the socio-legal nature of sentencing research and provides an appropriate theoretical context for the analysis of rights in the sentencing process, and he looks at sentence discounts in the Crown Court to illustrate how structuration theory can provide a coherent and cohesive macro-theoretical framework within which both research methodology and empirical findings can be linked and evaluated.
Abstract
In examining law, policy, and sentencing research, the author suggests the relationship between the processes of theoretically informed analysis and normative imperatives should be conceived as a four-stage process: description, explanation, normative identification, and normative prescription. This process provides an analytical paradigm that is intended to allow socio-legal theory to conceptualize justification and empirical components of sentencing. Structuration theory offers a framework in which coherent and integrated socio-legal analysis of judicial processes and moral contexts can be conducted, and implications of using structuration theory as a theoretical paradigm for socio-legal analysis of sentencing are discussed. 55 references and 28 notes