What is it about?
Pre-sentence reports are used in most criminal justice systems in order to choose an 'appropriate' sentence for the defendant. However, this article shows how the drafting of the reports and their interpretation by judges is influenced by implicit and often stereotyped social knowledge about the defendant.
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Why is it important?
My analysis shows how stereotypes influence not just the pre-sentence reports but also the sentencing outcomes. This happens through implied and tacit dissemination of social 'facts' about the defendant that may cause inconsistencies in sentencing practices.
Perspectives
It was interesting to write about how language use in reports can create ideas about what kinds of persons defendants are.
Louise Victoria Johansen
university of copenhagen
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Between standard, silence and exception: How texts construct defendants as persons in Danish pre-sentence reports, Discourse & Society, November 2017, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0957926517734423.
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