Hayes, D. orcid.org/0000-0002-0209-6814 (2023) Ben Crewe on the bench? Bringing the dimensional pains of punishment into the courtroom. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology. ISSN 0306-624X
Abstract
Penal subjectivists argue that the severity of punishment ought to be measured in terms of penal subjects’ actual experiences, rather than that intended by sentencing authorities. One challenge that subjectivists must confront, however, is that it is difficult to meaningfully compare the subjective experiences of different individuals, in a way that is sufficiently equitable and consistent to satisfy the requirements of just sentencing. This paper considers the prospects and pitfalls of Ben Crewe’s dimensional approach to the pains of imprisonment as a means of overcoming this challenge during sentencing. Crewe’s ground-breaking work takes the “deprivations and frustrations” of everyday prison life associated with Gresham Sykes, and subjects them to four spatial metaphors that help to trace differences between penal experiences: depth; weight; tightness; and breadth. The applicability of this approach to sentencing decision-making is considered, and implications are drawn for sentencing research agendas.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2023. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
Keywords: | Sentencing, subjective experience, pains of punishment, proportionality, personal mitigation |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > School of Law (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 23 Jan 2023 15:47 |
Last Modified: | 12 Feb 2025 10:22 |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/0306624X231159885 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:195605 |