Thesis
The nature and extent of sentence discounting for guilty pleas : in Scottish Sheriff Court summary cases
- Creator
- Rights statement
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 2018
- Thesis identifier
- T15392
- Person Identifier (Local)
- 201376829
- Qualification Level
- Qualification Name
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- The thesis starts from a position whereby almost nothing is known about Sentence Discounting in practice. This research addresses this knowledge gap by observing two courts and conducting interviews with seven sheriffs, eight defence lawyers, two prosecutors, and twelve accused persons. Firstly, the thesis argues that while practitioners believe the formal law is authoritative, in both statute and case-law the position is ambivalent and occasionally somewhat contradictory. The thesis shows that the formal law is radically indeterminate with regard to Sentence Discounting. Secondly, the thesis shows that case disposal via Guilty Pleas depends upon social relationships between legal practitioners (judges, prosecutors, and defence lawyers). These social relationships result in an element of predictability regarding the stated Sentence Discount. The importance of social relationships also means that formalistic innovations intended to yield greater efficiency may have been counter-productive. Thirdly, the thesis documents how individual courts generate unique norms. The thesis demonstrates this by analysing differences between two neighbouring courts of comparable size. Court 1 took significantly longer than the national average to reach a Guilty Plea while Court 2 was considerably faster. The research shows that different intra-court cultures partly explain the differences between the two courts. Fourthly, the thesis reveals that Sentence Discounting contributes to accused persons’ feelings of disconnection with the criminal process. While accused persons believed in some idea of the majesty of the law, they lamented that this did not materialise in their cases. Accused persons felt Sentence Discounting trivialised their experiences and introduced inappropriate elements of gamesmanship.
- Advisor / supervisor
- Tata, Cyrus
- Hutton, Neil, 1953-
- Resource Type
- Note
- This thesis was previously held under moratorium from 28th November 2019 until 28th November 2024.
- DOI
- Date Created
- 2018
- Former identifier
- 9912773392502996
关系
项目
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PDF of thesis T15392 | 2021-07-02 | 公开 | 下载 |