Ralph Henham
Biographic Data
| ID | 5407355 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ralph Henham |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ralph |
| FAMILY NAME | Henham |
| SIGNATURE | HENHAM R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Nottingham Trent University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5631-0214 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 44 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 52 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 44 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1986 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Re-thinking notions of evidence and proof for sentencing
Judges and magistrates are often criticised for failing to take sufficient account of social factors such as poverty and social deprivation when sentencing offenders. The implication is that the sentencing practices of the courts lack an important social dimension—that of ‘social justice’—namely, the perception that the punishment of criminalised behaviour by the state is fair and non-discriminatory. This article asserts that the notion of ‘socia…
Bridging the Gap between Political and Penal Legitimacy
This chapter argues that the relationship between penal policy and the political economy provides important insights into the political and institutional reforms required to minimize harsh and discriminatory penal policies. However, the capacity of sentencing policy to engage with this social reality in a meaningful way necessitates a recasting of penal ideology. To realize this objective requires a profound understanding of sentencing’s social v…
Conclusion
This chapter draws together the book’s common themes and considers their broader implications for the future development of sentencing policy. It concludes that contemporary sentencing policy should reflect shared goals and engage with social priorities for the common good, so restoring the essential link between penal ideology and the socially lived experience of crime and punishment. Structural changes are therefore required to empower decision…
Sentencing Policy as a Force for Social Cohesion
This chapter sets out the case for adopting a normative approach to conceptualizing the social reality of sentencing. It argues that policy-makers need to comprehend how sentencing is implicated in realizing state values and take greater account of the social forces that diminish the moral credibility of state sponsored punishment. The chapter reflects on the problems of relating social values to legal processes such as sentencing and argues that…
Some Practical Implications for Policy and Practice
This chapter explains the practical consequences of what has been proposed. It begins by evaluating current models and suggested approaches for incorporating public opinion into sentencing, explaining how the proposed changes would differ. It then sets out some practical reforms to sentencing in England and Wales, including greater coordination between the national regulation of sentencing discretion through the Sentencing Council and regional or…
Establishing New Foundations and Structures for Governance
This chapter considers the case for recasting the moral values that inform sentencing and the policy implications of such a fundamental change of approach. It suggests that prospects for promoting social justice through sentencing continue to be constrained by existing penal values, with procedural justice, communication systems, and decision-making evaluated against this governance framework. The chapter argues for new foundational principles an…
Sentencing Policy and Changing Notions of Social Justice
This chapter considers the importance of reflecting social values in the practice of sentencing. It explores this issue in the context of the sentencing policy of England and Wales during the past twenty-five years, focusing on the extent to which social change and value pluralism has damaged the essential connections between penal ideology and sentencing policy. More specifically, it emphasises how the fragmentation of communities and the ensuin…
The Relevance of Globalization and Notions of Transition
This chapter considers the global and comparative dimensions of sentencing and explains their significance for developing a more positive relationship between sentencing policy and social justice. It assesses the influence of globalization on the formulation of sentencing policy in England and Wales, before focusing on the wider problems of drawing comparisons and policy transfer. It then reflects on sentencing as a transitional concept, arguing …
Sentencing Policy and Social Justice
The book argues that the promotion of social justice should become a key objective of sentencing policy. It rejects the idea that current forms of justice delivery can respond adequately to the social realities of social exclusion, discrimination, and poverty and their impact on criminality and victimization. Rather, it argues that a deeper understanding of the moral values that underpin punishment by the state is necessary, one that engages more…
Sentencing and the Legitimacy of Trial Justice
This book discusses the under-researched relationship between sentencing and the legitimacy of punishment. It argues that there is an increasing gap between what is perceived as legitimate punishment and the sentencing decisions of the criminal courts. Drawing on a wide variety of empirical research evidence, the book explores how sentencing could be developed within a more socially-inclusive framework for the delivery of trial justice. In the in…
Evaluating the Contribution of Sentencing to Social Justice
The sentencing practices of the courts are significant in promoting social welfare and the cohesion of communities. More particularly, the social morality which underpins punishment and its expression through sentencing is a crucial factor in balancing the interests of citizen and state. Consequently, penal policymakers face an increasingly difficult task ensuring that the rationales for punishment and sentencing decisions engage with the values,…
Exploring the relationship between sentencing and the legitimacy of trial justice
Towards Restorative Sentencing in International Criminal Trials
This article considers how sentencing might be re-conceptualised if restorative justice became a more integral part of the rationale for international criminal trials. More specifically, it focuses on issues of admissibility and proof; trial structure; procedural justice; the role of victims and trial professionals, and the role of judicial discretionary power in sentencing decisions. The paper concludes by suggesting that change is possible by u…
Theorising law and legitimacy in international criminal justice
This paper seeks to explore the relationship between law and morality and its relevance for establishing the legitimacy of international criminal justice (ICJ) within the context of international trials. At present, imperatives for peace and reconstruction in conflict societies are divorced both conceptually and practically from the process of punishment in international criminal trials. It argues that, in order for international trial justice to…
International Sentencing in the Context of Collective Violence
This article evaluates some of the theoretical and practical arguments which suggest that the potential for international trial justice to make a significant contribution towards reconciliation and peace following mass atrocity is limited. Conversely, it argues that it is possible to move beyond the current narrow conceptualisation of penality in international trials by re-thinking the ideological framework for punishment and sentencing and givin…
Some reflections on the legitimacy of international trial justice
Plea Bargaining and the Legitimacy of International Trial Justice
Procedural justice and human rights in international sentencing
Founded in 1683 in Leiden, the Netherlands, Brill is a leading international academic publisher in the Humanities, Social Sciences, International Law, and Biology. With offices in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, the USA and Asia, Brill today publishes more than 360 journals and 2,000 new books and reference works each year as well as a large number of databases and primary source research collections
Theorizing the penality of sentencing in international criminal trials
This article seeks to make a contribution towards resolving the theoretical and methodological challenges posed by the increasing internationalization of criminal trial process and the pressing need to provide concepts and methodological techniques that will enhance our understanding of the global, regional and domestic effects of these developments. However, in order to achieve this objective it is necessary to develop concepts and methods capab…
Conceptualizing Access to Justice and Victims’ Rights in International Sentencing
The purpose of this article is to confront some of the theoretical and conceptual difficulties in understanding the meaning and relevance of notions of access to justice and rights for victims in the context of international sentencing. In particular, it suggests the need for such conceptualizations to engage with the nature of international sentencing process as a transformative mechanism where fact and value are negotiated to correspond with th…
Conceptualizing Access to Justice and Victims’ Rights in International Sentencing
Some Reflections on the Role of Victims in the International Criminal Trial Process
The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature and significance of victim participation in international criminal trials through the analysis of relevant substantive and procedural norms of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda (ICTY and ICTR respectively) and the recently created International Criminal Court (ICC) in their broader philosophical, sociological and comparative context. By focus…
Victim Participation and Sentencing in England and Italy
Some Issues for Sentencing in the International Criminal Court
The purpose of this paper is to raise several significant issues for debate which concern the sentencing of offenders to be convicted in the newly established International Criminal Court (ICC). Such has been the impact of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington that they have thrown into sharp focus critical deficiencies in the purpose, coherence and practical mechanisms developed for sentencing in the ICC. 1 Not only did such events su…
Further Evidence on the Significance of Plea in the Crown Court
The main purpose of this article is to provide some additional research evidence in an effort to illustrate how conventional accounts of the relationship between plea and outcome in certain specific offence categories may be oversimplified and inaccurate. More specifically, the article considers the extent to which these practices may represent further inroads into due process at the expense of those mechanisms designed to achieve a measure of ‘q…
Some Issues for Sentencing in the International Criminal Court
The purpose of this paper is to raise several significant issues for debate which concern the sentencing of offenders to be convicted in the newly established International Criminal Court (ICC). Such has been the impact of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington that they have thrown into sharp focus critical deficiencies in the purpose, coherence and practical mechanisms developed for sentencing in the ICC. 1 Not only did such events su…
Human Rights, Due Process and Sentencing
The aim of this paper is to examine the arguments for adopting a rights-based approach to the analysis of the sentencing process rather than the traditional crime control and due process models developed by Packer (1968). An attempt is also made to further the theoretical debate by suggesting how Giddens's theory of structuration could fruitfully be extended to provide an appropriate theoretical context for the analysis of rights in the sentencin…
Sentencing Theory, Proportionality and Pragmatism
Theory, Rights and Sentencing Policy
Bargain Justice or Justice Denied? Sentence Discounts and the Criminal Process
Conceptualizing Access to Justice and Victims’ Rights in International Sentencing
The purpose of this article is to confront some of the theoretical and conceptual difficulties in understanding the meaning and relevance of notions of access to justice and rights for victims in the context of international sentencing. In particular, it suggests the need for such conceptualizations to engage with the nature of international sentencing process as a transformative mechanism where fact and value are negotiated to correspond with th…
Victim Participation and Sentencing in England and Italy
Theory and Contextual Analysis in Sentencing
Making Sense of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997
Back to the Future on Sentencing
Theorising law and legitimacy in international criminal justice
This paper seeks to explore the relationship between law and morality and its relevance for establishing the legitimacy of international criminal justice (ICJ) within the context of international trials. At present, imperatives for peace and reconstruction in conflict societies are divorced both conceptually and practically from the process of punishment in international criminal trials. It argues that, in order for international trial justice to…
Some reflections on the legitimacy of international trial justice
Plea Bargaining and the Legitimacy of International Trial Justice
The internationalisation of sentencing
Problems of Theorizing Sentencing Research
Protective Sentences
Due process, procedural justice and sentencing policy
The Influence of Sentencing Principles on Magistrates' Sentencing Practices
The sentencing principles of the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) are supposed to provide guidance for sentencers at all levels yet their relevance for magistrates' courts has often been doubted. This article provides evidence which suggests a significant level of misunderstanding of sentencing principles by magistrates. Various proposals for reform are assessed in the light of these findings and some alternatives suggested
Sentencing Policy and the Role of the Court of Appeal 1
This paper examines the key role which the Court of Appeal has played in shaping sentencing policy in the last 20 years. It is argued that the continued divergence between judicial objectives and executive policy‐making provides a significant obstacle to penal reform. The analysis examines the interpretation of government legislation and initiatives by the Court of Appeal, Court of Appeal sentencing initiatives, and the impact of the Attorney Gen…
Dangerous Trends in the Sentencing of Mentally Abnormal Offenders
The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how the recent trend towards protectionist sentencing has seriously compromised the due process rights of mentally abnormal offenders. The failure to clarify the rationale for sentencing mentally abnormal offenders has produced anomalous sentencing provisions and it has become acceptable sentencing policy that in certain circumstances a mentally abnormal offender may be given a custodial sentence whic…
Due process, procedural justice and sentencing policy
Back to the Future on Sentencing
Anglo‐American Approaches to Cumulative Sentencing and the Implications for UK Sentencing Policy
The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of the Conservative government’s proposed introduction of a limited form of cumulative sentencing in the case of burglary, Class A drug offenders, and, violent and sexual offenders. The paper focuses on the rationale for the introduction of a limited form of cumulative sentencing in the UK and includes an assessment of the implications of the proposed changes for existing sentencing practice and its …
Sentencing Policy and the Abolition of Parole and Early Release
Protective Sentences
Sentencing Sex Offenders
The aim of this paper is to illustrate how recent criminal justice legislation, policy and practice have conspired to hinder the development of a common approach to the sentencing of sex offenders between the courts and the prison and probation services. In consequence, the treatment needs of sentenced sex offenders have been subsumed to the wider goals of system objectives and political agendas. A number of suggestions are made for improving coh…
Making Sense of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997
Human Rights, Due Process and Sentencing
The aim of this paper is to examine the arguments for adopting a rights-based approach to the analysis of the sentencing process rather than the traditional crime control and due process models developed by Packer (1968). An attempt is also made to further the theoretical debate by suggesting how Giddens's theory of structuration could fruitfully be extended to provide an appropriate theoretical context for the analysis of rights in the sentencin…
Theory, Rights and Sentencing Policy
Dangerousness and sentencing policy in Great Britain
The aim of this paper is to describe current UK provisions for the sentencing of dangerous offenders in the context of their penological justifications and recent historical development. It is argued that the continued absence of rationality in sentencing policy for dangerous offenders has serious due process and human rights implications. In consequence, it is suggested that the sentencing of dangerous offenders should be returned to the mainstr…
Bargain Justice or Justice Denied? Sentence Discounts and the Criminal Process
Some Alternative Strategies for Improving the Effectiveness of the English Prisons Ombudsman Scheme
The purpose of this article is to analyse the operation of the English Prisons Ombudsman scheme in the context of some alternative strategies for reform. The article begins by describing briefly1 the origins, remit and operation of the Ombudsman scheme focusing on key weaknesses and areas of potential development. It is argued that the impetus effectively provided to the future development of prisoners' rights by the Human Rights Act 1998 will fu…
Sentencing Theory, Proportionality and Pragmatism
Problems of Theorizing Sentencing Research
Theory and Contextual Analysis in Sentencing
Further Evidence on the Significance of Plea in the Crown Court
The main purpose of this article is to provide some additional research evidence in an effort to illustrate how conventional accounts of the relationship between plea and outcome in certain specific offence categories may be oversimplified and inaccurate. More specifically, the article considers the extent to which these practices may represent further inroads into due process at the expense of those mechanisms designed to achieve a measure of ‘q…
The internationalisation of sentencing
Victim Participation and Sentencing in England and Italy
Some Issues for Sentencing in the International Criminal Court
The purpose of this paper is to raise several significant issues for debate which concern the sentencing of offenders to be convicted in the newly established International Criminal Court (ICC). Such has been the impact of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington that they have thrown into sharp focus critical deficiencies in the purpose, coherence and practical mechanisms developed for sentencing in the ICC. 1 Not only did such events su…
Procedural justice and human rights in international sentencing
Founded in 1683 in Leiden, the Netherlands, Brill is a leading international academic publisher in the Humanities, Social Sciences, International Law, and Biology. With offices in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, the USA and Asia, Brill today publishes more than 360 journals and 2,000 new books and reference works each year as well as a large number of databases and primary source research collections
Theorizing the penality of sentencing in international criminal trials
This article seeks to make a contribution towards resolving the theoretical and methodological challenges posed by the increasing internationalization of criminal trial process and the pressing need to provide concepts and methodological techniques that will enhance our understanding of the global, regional and domestic effects of these developments. However, in order to achieve this objective it is necessary to develop concepts and methods capab…
Conceptualizing Access to Justice and Victims’ Rights in International Sentencing
The purpose of this article is to confront some of the theoretical and conceptual difficulties in understanding the meaning and relevance of notions of access to justice and rights for victims in the context of international sentencing. In particular, it suggests the need for such conceptualizations to engage with the nature of international sentencing process as a transformative mechanism where fact and value are negotiated to correspond with th…
Political science (40 works) · Law (38 works) · Criminology (33 works) · Sociology (33 works) · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis (26 works) · Law (25 works) · Psychology (21 works) · Politics (18 works) · Economic Justice (17 works) · Law and economics (15 works)