Fair sentencing

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The project starts from the premise that sentencing law and practice in Germany is beset by several problems: a lack of clear statutory regulation of sentencing standards, an ensuing problem of unequal sentencing practices in different regions, and an alienation of segments of the population from sentencing practice as reported in the media. The goal of the project is to gauge the size and some causes of these problems. For that purpose, several empirical studies will be conducted: with regard to the application of sentencing standards and their review on appeal, we will perform a thorough analysis of samples of first-instance judgments from various German courts with regard to the reasons cited for the sentences; a review of appeals court judgments dealing with sentencing issues, analyzing the reasons for which sentencing decisions are overturned on appeal (Revision); and group discussions with criminal court judges on sentencing in two hypothetical cases. By studying decisions from geographically separate courts, we will be able to study the size of regional differences in sentencing severity. In order to gauge the difference in sentencing attitudes between professional Judges and lay persons, eight case vignettes are presented online to large samples of both groups, with variations as to potentially relevant factors such as gender, nationality, and harm caused by the offense. Through evaluating the differences between both groups, we aim at identifying the quantity and factors of differences with regard to sentencing.