Responding to the Culpable State: Is Sentence Mitigation Appropriate? (Studies in Penal Theory and Ethics)

ISBN 10: 1509975659 / ISBN 13: 9781509975655

Published by Hart Publishing, 2025

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Responding to the Culpable State: Is Sentence Mitigation Appropriate? (Studies in Penal Theory and Ethics)
• Publisher: Hart Publishing
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1509975659
• ISBN 13: 9781509975655
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

This volume explores ethical aspects relating to claims for mitigation arising from culpable state action (or inaction).

It answers the important and controversial question: to what extent should the state mitigate sentencing for defendants who have been victims of state misconduct?

The volume explores the normative justifications for mitigation and answers many intriguing questions. For example, in terms of the procedural challenges, should the offender have to prove a causal link between state wrongdoing or neglect and the offending? Can a court take judicial notice of state-induced social adversity and apply this consideration to all affected offenders? Other questions relate to the implications for courts and sentencing commissions which issue guidance to courts regarding mitigation at sentencing. To what extent is the offender less culpable as a result of state misconduct, and what are the limits of any resulting sentence reductions? Do sentence reductions for state misconduct undermine proportionality, or deprecate the seriousness of the impact on the victim of crime? Should this factor be included in any sentencing guidelines or possibly even as a statutory mitigating factor?

Each contribution explores a distinct, cross-jurisdictional claim for mitigation on the basis of State negligence or misconduct towards the offender. The chapters all address the appropriate response of courts at sentencing.

About the Authors

Leo Zaibert is the Andreas von Hirsch Professor of Penal Theory and Ethics and Director of the Centre for Penal Theory and Ethics, University of Cambridge, UK.

Julian V Roberts is Professor of Criminology at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Worcester College, UK.


Photo courtesy of Faculty of Law, University of Oxford.

Jesper Ryberg is Professor of Ethics and Philosophy of Law at the Department of Philosophy at Roskilde University, Denmark.