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Youth Sex Offenders in Court: An Analysis of Judicial Sentencing Remarks

Daly, Kathleen
June 4, 2015

Source: (2007) Punishment and Society. Vol. 9, Issue 4:371-394

This paper builds on an archival study of 385 sexual offence cases, which were disposed in court and by conference and formal caution, in South Australia from 1995 to 2001. Drawing on the transcripts of 55 cases sentenced by judges (i.e., the most legally serious offences), we analyse sentencing discourses and outcomes using both the explicit and latent content of the sentencing remarks. Specifically, we explore the judges’ orientations and aims when sentencing adolescent sex offenders, how judges reconcile the seriousness of offending and the youthfulness of offenders, and how they balance the competing interests of victims and offenders. (author’s abstract)

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