The prosecutor as sentencer : a comparative study of the role of the public prosecutor in Scotland, the Netherlands and Germany
The prosecutor as sentencer : a comparative study of the role of the public prosecutor in Scotland, the Netherlands and Germany
This is a comparative, empirical study of the influence of the public prosecutor in Scotland, the Netherlands and Germany over the process of sentencing offenders in the criminal justice system. Empirical research, mainly in the form of interviewing practitioners, academics and researchers, has been conducted in those three jurisdictions to ascertain the extent of the direct and indirect influences of the prosecutor in this area. A background study, principally involving a thorough literature review, was also conducted on the English Crown Prosecution Service and the extent to which that new Service has developed sentencing powers for the prosecutor.
Indirect influences over the sentencing process were found in all four jurisdictions in the form of decisions made by the public prosecutor over the choice of offence with which to charge an offender and the choice of mode of trial after a positive prosecution decision has been made. These decisions have an indirect bearing on the level of the sentence issued by a judge after conviction.
More direct influences were found in the European criminal justice systems where prosecutors are empowered to issue sanctions themselves at the pre-trial stage, where it is not considered to be in the public interest to prosecute. These sanctions included prosecutorial fines, warnings, referral to rehabilitation schemes and arranging out-of-court reparative settlements between victim and offender.
The direct powers of prosecutors to `sentence' offenders without reference to a court were found to be used increasingly in recent years in Europe, and this study suggests three modes of justice which seek to justify the extended use of these powers as well as to address important issues such as the degree of accountability of prosecutors in their sentencing role, the protection of offenders' civil liberties, particularly their rights of natural justice and the right of appeal against these informal sentencing decisions and the problem of net-widening in a sentencing procedure which is far less open to public scrutiny than judicial sentencing. (DX176149)
University of Southampton
Fionda, Julia Alison
d6ee23fe-42fe-4d0d-a7bc-3571dba8c775
1993
Fionda, Julia Alison
d6ee23fe-42fe-4d0d-a7bc-3571dba8c775
Fionda, Julia Alison
(1993)
The prosecutor as sentencer : a comparative study of the role of the public prosecutor in Scotland, the Netherlands and Germany.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
This is a comparative, empirical study of the influence of the public prosecutor in Scotland, the Netherlands and Germany over the process of sentencing offenders in the criminal justice system. Empirical research, mainly in the form of interviewing practitioners, academics and researchers, has been conducted in those three jurisdictions to ascertain the extent of the direct and indirect influences of the prosecutor in this area. A background study, principally involving a thorough literature review, was also conducted on the English Crown Prosecution Service and the extent to which that new Service has developed sentencing powers for the prosecutor.
Indirect influences over the sentencing process were found in all four jurisdictions in the form of decisions made by the public prosecutor over the choice of offence with which to charge an offender and the choice of mode of trial after a positive prosecution decision has been made. These decisions have an indirect bearing on the level of the sentence issued by a judge after conviction.
More direct influences were found in the European criminal justice systems where prosecutors are empowered to issue sanctions themselves at the pre-trial stage, where it is not considered to be in the public interest to prosecute. These sanctions included prosecutorial fines, warnings, referral to rehabilitation schemes and arranging out-of-court reparative settlements between victim and offender.
The direct powers of prosecutors to `sentence' offenders without reference to a court were found to be used increasingly in recent years in Europe, and this study suggests three modes of justice which seek to justify the extended use of these powers as well as to address important issues such as the degree of accountability of prosecutors in their sentencing role, the protection of offenders' civil liberties, particularly their rights of natural justice and the right of appeal against these informal sentencing decisions and the problem of net-widening in a sentencing procedure which is far less open to public scrutiny than judicial sentencing. (DX176149)
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Published date: 1993
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Local EPrints ID: 462282
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/462282
PURE UUID: f9455fd5-3fa0-435b-b2c6-5f6ed2b0d2dd
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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 19:04
Last modified: 23 Jul 2022 01:07
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Author:
Julia Alison Fionda
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