Reparation, Retribution and Rights

This article explores the relationship between the idea that offenders should make reparation to their victims and the principle of ‘just deserts’ or strict proportionality between seriousness of offence and severity of punishment. Some have queried whether these notions are compatible with each other, suggesting that there is relatively little scope for reparative measures in a criminal justice system soundly based on the principle of just deserts. We defend the reparative principle, arguing that reparation should play a significant rôle in a criminal justice system based on the human rights of victims as well as offenders. Such a rights-based approach also has an important place for the retributive notion of just deserts, but strict proportionality is rejected in favour of an approach whereby the offender's just deserts set upper and lower limits on the sanctions which may be imposed on the offender. Within these limits there should be scope for both victims and offenders to have a say in the nature, form and amount of reparation which is appropriate. </jats:p

The Penal System: An Introduction

The Penal System provides a complete introduction to all aspects of punishment within the wider context of the criminal justice system. It covers all the key theories and topics that a student of criminology or criminal justice needs to know about in their course

Towards a Framework for Conceptualizing and Evaluating Models of Criminal Justice from a Victim's Perspective

In this article we outline a typology of ‘models’ or conceptual contexts within which a variety of victim-based measures has been proposed, and in many cases adopted, in various common law jurisdictions. The purpose of the typology is to clarify some of the confusion surrounding these measures and, in particular, the scope they offer for reparative and restorative approaches to operate either within or alongside the mainstream criminal process. Drawing on recent empirical findings and theoretical writings we also seek to evaluate the victim-oriented measures that are associated with each of the models. Within the typology three distinct models of restorative justice are examined and we argue that one of these, the Communitarian Model, emerges as the most coherent, credible and constructive challenger to the hitherto predominant Retributive Model.</jats:p

Penal Systems: A Comparative Approach

Penal Systems: A Comparative Approach is a comprehensive and original introduction to the comparative study of punishment. Analysing twelve countries, Cavadino and Dignan offer an integrated and theoretically rigorous approach to comparative penology. They draw upon material provided by a team of eminent penologists to produce an important and highly readable contribution to scholarship in this area. Early chapters introduce the reader to comparative penology, set out the theoretical framework and consider whether there is currently a 'global penal crisis'. Each country is then discussed in turn. Chapters on comparative youth justice and the privatization of prisons follow. Comparisons between countries are drawn within each chapter, giving the reader a synoptic and truly comparative vision of penality in different jurisdictions