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Abstract

The 1990s witnessed an increase in the number of mandatory sentences
created around the common law world. Australia was part of
this trend and along with England1 adopted versions of the United
States three strikes laws. Canada also passed a record number of
mandatory sentences between 1982 and 1999.2 In Australia during
the 1990s, mandatory sentencing laws for property offences were
enacted in Western Australia and the Northern Territory in response
to a moral panic based on a perception that the criminal justice
system was not taking victims rights seriously, and that sentencing
courts were passing inconsistent and excessively lenient sentences as a
consequence of taking into account factors such as race and socioeconomic
deprivation.3 In response, from at least 1998 and through
to 2002, there was a plethora of journal articles, conference papers,
book chapters, reports and other commentary addressing the issue of
mandatory sentencing. The torrent of publications has slowed to a
trickle but the themes underlying the debate, namely discriminatory
sentencing practices and legislative attempts to promote both consistency
and harsher sentences remain.

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Warner, K
Journal or Publication Title:	Criminal Law Forum
Publisher:	Springer
ISSN:	1046-8374
DOI / ID Number:	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10609-007-9043-8
Additional Information:	The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com
Item Statistics:	View statistics for this item

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