Velasquez Valenzuela, Javier (2018) Doing justice: sentencing practices in Scottish sheriff courts. PhD thesis. https://theses.gla.ac.uk/39042/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/
[email protected] Doing Justice: Sentencing Practices in Scottish Sheriff Courts Javier Velásquez Valenzuela Licenciado en Ciencias Jurídicas, Abogado & MSt en Derecho Penal Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Social and Political Sciences, College of Social Sciences University of Glasgow October 2018 2 Abstract This thesis is an examination of the sentencing practices of judges (known as Sheriffs) in criminal cases heard in the Scottish sheriff courts. Despite the importance of sentencing, there is little knowledge of how exactly Sheriffs deal with cases. In particular, little is known about why and in which cases they decide that a custodial sentence is appropriate in the context of summary court proceedings. This research aims to understand the rationales behind the Sheriffs’ sentencing practice and, through this exploration, tries to examine how Sheriffs currently understand their role as sentencers.