Suchergebnisse

This speech, given at the Northeast Law and Society Conference, January 2013, explores some possibilities for a "re-enchantment" of law and for the future of "law and society" scholarship.

None of the standard theories of punishment can explain the "remorse discount" juries & judges seem inclined to give when sentencing. This chapter argues that sentencing ought to change its nature when a defendant is remorseful, sanctioning instead of punishing. The emotion of remorse is so closely tied to retribution that there is no further need for punishment. Instead, a merciful settlement, or sanction, is required to bring an end to the retributive pain of remorse. In short, for remorseful defendants, we sentence in order to mitigate remorse, rather than looking to remorse in order to mitigate sentence. 26 References. [Copyright 2005 Elsevier Ltd.]

What do crime victims want? The answer suggested by Alexandre Dumas's iconic character Edmund Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo (1996 edition) suggests that victims may want retribution, not revenge. Victims may seek more than restored honor or personal restitution. They may long for justice to prevail as an affirmation that the world still makes sense. Yet, Dumas also reminds us through the novel that human justice is only human & cannot provide this kind of cosmic guarantee. From this perspective, it is revenge, not retribution that looks more measured & more humane. 40 References. Adapted from the source document.

In Knowing the Suffering of Others, legal scholar Austin Sarat brings together essays that address suffering as it relates to the law, highlighting the ways law imagines suffering and how pain and suffering become jurisprudential facts.From fetal imaging to end-of-life decisions, torts to international human rights, domestic violence to torture, and the law of war to victim impact statements, the law is awash in epistemological and ethical problems associated with knowing and imagining suffering. In each of these domains we might ask: How well do legal actors perceive and understand suffering