Family-Based Justice in the Sentencing of Domestic Violence
British Journal of Criminology, Volume 47, Number 4, Pp. 655-670
http://bjc.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/47/4/655
Ronit Dinovitzer and Myrna Dawson
"This paper investigates the role of the family in the sentencing of offenders in a specialized domestic violence court. We examine both the likelihood of incarceration and the determinants of sentence length, and find that conceptions of the family continue to have an important influence on these criminal process outcomes. In cases in which the victim has suffered serious injuries, offenders in intact relationships are more likely to be sentenced to jail, yet, at the same time, when incarcerated, these offenders receive shorter sentences. The current study suggests the continued relevance of ‘family-based justice’ in the sanctioning of offenders, so that moral imperatives continue to intersect with the actuarial logic of modern penal practices."
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