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Interesting examination of sentencing in child homicide cases

By Douglas A. Berman

Especially given that the media coverage of one apparent child homicide seems never-ending, this new paper on SSRN ought to be of interest to both sentencing fans and social scientists. The paper is titled, "Sympathy for the Devil? Child Homicide, Victim Characteristics, and the Sentencing Preferences of the American Conscience," and here is the abstract: The act of killing a child holds the distinction of attracting a deluge of attention in the media but a relative drip of sociological literature.  This thesis deconstructs American views of child homicide and conducts the first experimental test of the effects of victim characteristics like age on sentencing recommendations in four different homicide scenarios: accidental, drunken, impulsive, and premeditated...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on December 22, 2008 (boomark / email).