Sweden’s prison population could increase to more than 30,000 in the coming decades.
Articles on Sentencing
Displaying 1 - 20 of 65 articles
Former supreme court justice Lord Brown described the IPP sentence as the ‘greatest single stain on our criminal justice system’.
There’s a separate justice system for people under 18 because their brains are still developing. Treating them as adults can turn them into repeat offenders.
Budget 2026 spends $503 million on expanding prisons. But 41% of the prison population are people on remand and more than half are released once their case is heard.
Countries including the US, UK, Canada use consistent sentencing guidelines. Is it time that New Zealand follows suit?
People sentenced for similar offences are more likely to offend after a short prison sentence than if they had been given a community sanction.
There are currently 74 people serving whole-life sentences.
We all want to know if a guilty party actually regrets what they’ve done, but how can we tell? Well, we sort of can’t.
These reforms violate human rights obligations, contradict the evidence and will be devastating for children and young people in conflict with the law.
One of the most high-profile court cases in Australian history has ended in the maximum sentence. Two legal experts explain the process.
Those who murdered the 15 year-old have received life sentences, but the ruling on racially motivated crime isn’t so definitive.
Drug mules typically don’t know what they are carrying, or how much.
The prison population is projected to increase to up to 105,000 by 2029 unless changes are made.
New Zealand jails more people per capita than Canada, Australia and England. But sentencing Act changes will contribute to a 40% rise in prisoner numbers over the next decade.
The wider use of pre-sentence reports could help reduce existing racial disparities in sentencing.
Extensive evidence shows the government’s plan to legislate mandatory minimum sentences for hate crimes, including antisemitic acts, won’t be effective. Here’s why.
Judges routinely reduce sentences based on mitigating factors. But a proposal to cap such reductions will potentially lead to fewer guilty pleas and put more strain on a the justice system.
While crime has fallen since the 1990s, this is not reflected in the prison population, which has doubled in the same period.
Lengthy confinement within locked, poorly maintained and overcrowded cells triggers boredom and restlessness, and contributes to violent incidents.
The new guidelines are not intended to reduce punishment but aim to reduce disparities in punishment that are linked to race and ethnicity.
Top contributors
-
Professor of Criminology, Australian National University
-
Senior Lecturer, The University of Western Australia
-
Associate Professor, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge
-
Professor of Law, Auckland University of Technology
-
Senior Lecturer, Political Science and International Relations, University of Canterbury
-
Professor (Practice), Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University
-
Emeritus Professor in Law and Criminal Justice, Adelaide University
-
Arie Freiberg is a Friend of The Conversation.
Emeritus Professor of Law, Monash University
-
Lecturer, School of Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University
-
Professor of Law, University of Waikato
-
Professor in Community and Criminal Justice, De Montfort University
-
Senior Lecturer in Criminology & Criminal Justice, Brunel University of London
-
Judge in Residence, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne
-
Professor of Psychology; Member of the Strategic Research Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development, Deakin University
-
Reader in Criminology, University of Liverpool