A new approach for ranking crime seriousness : the use of paired comparison methodology.

Francis, Brian J. and Soothill, Keith L. and Dittrich, Regina (2001) A new approach for ranking crime seriousness : the use of paired comparison methodology. British Journal of Criminology, 41 (4). pp. 726-737. ISSN 1464-3529

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Abstract

The non-consequentialist approach to punishment sentences on the basis of offence-seriousness. However, there has been little theoretical or empirical consideration of the notion of offence-seriousness. Identification of ‘serious’ offences tends to be commonsensical at best. Further, there is currently no systematic way of measuring changes of seriousness over time. This study is a demonstration project displaying a way to investigate how the judiciary and the magistracy rank offence-seriousness in assessing actual cases. The use of paired-comparisons methodology provides a procedure which overcomes some problems of previous approaches. The method enables an assessment of the performance of judges and magistrates in terms of how they view the seriousness of offences without the artificiality of being involved in hypothesized field experiments.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
British Journal of Criminology
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/researchoutput/libraryofcongress/h1
Subjects:
?? PATHOLOGY AND FORENSIC MEDICINELAWH SOCIAL SCIENCES (GENERAL) ??
ID Code:
13748
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
01 Oct 2008 15:20
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
17 Sep 2023 00:17