Sentencing Guidelines and Commissions: Comparative Perspectives

Since the 1970s, sentencing in many countries has evolved from a system in which courts enjoyed wide discretion to one where courts must follow or at least consider guideline recommendations. This movement towards greater structure has also led to the creation of independent bodies-sentencing commissions or councils-which now sit alongside courts of appeal and play a pivotal role in guiding courts, advising legislators, and communicating with the public. Sentencing commissions and councils perform a wide range of other functions including increasing transparency and promoting fairness, consistency, and public confidence in the courts.

In Sentencing Guidelines and Commissions, Julian V. Roberts, Arie Freiberg, and Rhys Hester synthesize existing literature on commissions and guidelines, identify key issues and problems, and clarify the future of commissions and guidelines since the creation of the first commissions in 1980. Drawing upon almost fifty years of additional developments and accumulated research on guidelines, commissions, and councils, the authors explore the benefits of sentencing councils and commissions and sentencing guidelines. Further, the authors look back to the cumulative experience around the world since the first guidelines were created and propose a model regime for legislatures to consider.

The first book on sentencing guidelines and commissions to take an international perspective, Sentencing Guidelines and Commissions aims to determine whether and how guidelines may solve, or at least mitigate, some of the problems of current sentencing practice.

Julian V. Roberts is Emeritus Professor at the University of Oxford and Executive Director of the Sentencing Academy. In 2022, he was appointed Kings Counsel (Honoris Causa) for his contributions to sentencing. In 2021, he was awarded the American Society of Criminology Sellin-Glueck Award for comparative criminal justice scholarship. Roberts was a member of the Canadian Sentencing Commission (1984-1987); the Sentencing Council of England and Wales (2010-2018); and a foreign advisor to the Model Penal Code Sentencing project. He has authored, co-authored, or edited thirty-four books on sentencing and criminal justice.

Arie Freiberg is an Emeritus Professor at Monash University, Melbourne Australia. He was Foundation Chair and Head of the Department of Criminology (1991-2002) and Dean of the Faculty of Arts (2003) at the University of Melbourne and Dean of the Faculty of Law at Monash University (2004-2012). He was the Inaugural Chair of the Victorian Sentencing Advisory Council (2004-2022) and Chair of the Tasmania Sentencing Advisory Council (2013-2021). He has authored over 190 publications in areas relating to sentencing, regulation, and non-adversarial justice.

Rhys Hester is an associate professor at Clemson University where he teaches in the areas of criminal law, courts, and criminal procedure. He is the former Deputy Director of the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing. Hester is a contractor for the National Institute of Justice and the United States Department of Justice on a project related to the review and revalidation of the PATTERN risk assessment tool. His research has been published in Criminology, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Crime & Delinquency, and Crime and Justice: A Review of Research.