Juror and community views of the guilty plea sentencing discount: Findings from a national Australian study
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Warner, K; Spiranovic, C; Bartels, L; Roberts, L; Gelb, KDate
2020-09-12Source Title
Criminology and Criminal JusticePublisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTDUniversity of Melbourne Author/s
Gelb, KarenAffiliation
School of Social and Political SciencesMetadata
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Journal ArticleCitations
Warner, K., Spiranovic, C., Bartels, L., Roberts, L. & Gelb, K. (2020). Juror and community views of the guilty plea sentencing discount: Findings from a national Australian study. CRIMINOLOGY & CRIMINAL JUSTICE, https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895820956703.Access Status
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https://eprints.utas.edu.au/34846/1/140876%20-%20Juror%20and%20community%20views%20of%20the%20guilty%20plea%20sentencing%20discount.pdfAbstract
<jats:p> A plea of guilty is a long-accepted factor mitigating sentence in many countries, including Australia, although academic debate over the merits and application of the discount is ongoing. This paper presents findings from a national Australian study on public opinion on the guilty plea sentencing discount, with a particular focus on sexual offences. Survey data were drawn from 989 jurors in cases that resulted in a guilty verdict and 450 unempanelled jurors and 306 online respondents who were provided with vignettes based on real cases. A third of the respondents would have supported a discount in their case if the offender had pleaded guilty. In contrast, more than one half of the respondents surveyed, who had received a vignette with a guilty plea scenario, supported an increment in sentence if the offender had gone to trial. There was more support for a discount in cases involving non-sexual violent offences versus sexual offences and adult versus child victims. Where a discount was supported, this most commonly was a reduction in the length of custodial sentence, with online respondents allocating the least generous discounts. Willingness to accept a sentencing discount was predicted by a range of variables including gender, education, punitive attitudes, offence type and offence seriousness. We conclude by considering the implications of our findings for sentencing law and practice. </jats:p>
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