Log in
Professor Julian Roberts` work on victim impact and on public attitudes towards sentencing produced empirically reliable and theoretically sophisticated findings. His victim impact research has been used by lawyers and judges across Canada, has been cited with approval by courts in Canada and England and Wales, and has formed the basis of a teaching module in the national judicial education curriculum in Canada. A second strand of his research on public attitudes to sentencing has helped to shape sentencing guidelines (sentencing ranges) in England and Wales.
In Canada and in England and Wales, those charged with sentencing offenders are now better informed about the nature of victim impact and public attitudes to mitigation. Judges and policy-makers are using this research to achieve a closer fit between sentences and community views of the seriousness of crimes. Taken together these studies helped make the practice of the courts more evidence-based.
In 2010 a Sentencing Information System (ISIS) for the Republic of Ireland was launched. Its development was partly based on an earlier system developed for use in Scotland, and the ISIS project was informed by the research which underpinned the Scottish system. The experience of this Scottish-based research informed advice given by Tata to the Judiciary and Court Service of the Republic of Ireland; a key recommendation was the need for public accessibility of the system to ensure maximum utility. The Irish system was launched in 2010 is now in use by judges and other practitioners as well as the wider public. ISIS assists judicial decision-making through the provision of meaningful, systematic information about sentencing; and its public availability has helped to shape and inform public discourse about sentencing and wider issues of justice.