Understanding the Sentencing Process in France

Sentencing disparities in the Czech Republic: Empirical evidence from post-communist Europe

“…In this, the Czech Republic might take inspiration from the Netherlands (see, for example, Tak, 2001, or Van Wingerden, 2014). Since in civil law systems, including the Czech Republic, prosecutors usually suggest specific sanctions (Hodgson and Soubis, 2016; Krajewski, 2016; Lappi-Seppälä, 2016; Plesničar, 2013; Scheirs et al, 2016; Weigend, 2016), sentencing disparities might be reduced if those prosecutorial suggestions were unified. I expect such prosecutorial guidelines to decrease sentencing disparities because the Czech prosecution service is much more hierarchically organized than the court one and the Czech Supreme Prosecutor has the authority to edict guidelines binding all other prosecutors.…”

“…Some empirical research has appeared concerning the Netherlands (Berghuis, 1992; Berghuis and Mak, 2002; Fiselier, 1985), Finland (Lappi-Seppälä and Hinkkanen, 2004) and Germany (Albrecht, 1994; see research mentioned in Heinz, 2013). In other countries, suspicions of inter-court disparities have been raised and contemplated, but there seems to have been little or no empirical research into these; this is the case for Italy (Mannouzzi, 2002), Belgium (Monsieurs et al, 2011) and France (Hodgson and Soubis, 2016). Only a few authors have touched upon the impact that the specifics of civil law systems have on sentencing disparities (Council of Europe, 1992; Killias, 1994; Krajewski, 2016; Lappi-Seppälä, 2001).…”

A failed attempt to radically reduce inter-court sentencing disparities by legislation: Empirical evidence from Poland

“…In Europe, the problem of sentencing disparities is also a concern of researchers, and significant research has been undertaken on the issue in common law (Pina-Sánchez and Linacre, 2013; Pina-Sánchez et al, 2017) and West European countries (‘Sentencing and Disparity: A Comparative Study’, 1994; Hodgson and Soubise, 2016; Monsieurs et al, 2011). Drápal (2020) argued that the limited knowledge in the research community on sentencing disparities in post-communist countries is due to the sparse literature published in English on the issue.…”