Book Review: Sentencing: Proceedings of a Seminar at the Sydney Institute of Criminology, No 35
| Date | 01 September 1979 |
| Published date | 01 September 1979 |
| Author | R Paul Davis |
| DOI | 10.1177/000486587901200311 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
186
B()()K
REVIEWS ANZJ
Crim
(1979) 12
deviant white collar equivalent
of
the
lower
class 'nuts, sluts
and
perverts' . . .".
It is
however
encouraging to
note
that
Braithwaite is
now
undertaking
interactionist research on groups
who
are
more
readily identifiable as "the
powerful".
In describing Medibank frauds,
Hodge
notes
that
doctors rarely receive
more
than a warning for such conduct. This is followed by
chapters
on protecting the
environment (Hundloe)
and
on
the
different treatment received
by
"dole
bludgers"
and
"tax dodgers". In the next three chapters various approaches to
corporate deviance are examined. In
some
ways these
papers,
by
Sutton
and
Wild, Gross,
and
Hopkins,
form
the theoretical core of this section. Gross, for
example,
argued
that
"all organizations
are
inherently criminal"
and
goes on to
give examples of the pressures
that
are
placed
upon
organizations to
break
the
law. It is at times unclear
whether
this lawbreaking is actually legal deviance,
tort, or a crime
and
one feels that these distinctions should
have
received greater
attention. Hopkins focuses on the causes of corporate
crime
and
argues
that
lawbreaking or deviance
often
arises because acompany's
standard
operating
procedure
was ignored.
One
explanation for this is highlighted
by
Sutton
and
Wild
when
they
note
that acentral conflict in
modern
law
between
its abstract
formalism
and
the needs of corporations to achieve substantive goals.
Unfortunately,
there
is insufficient
space
here to consider these views in greater
detail, suffice it to state
that
they
provide
the basis for
more
detailed empirical
and
theoretical analysis in this
area
and
are essential
reading
for anyone
interested in
advancing
the
parameters
of research on
deviance
in Australia.
Sydney
ROMAN
TOMASIC
Sentencing: Proceedings of a Seminar at the Sydney Institute.of Criminology,
No 35. Pyrmont, NSW:
Government
Printer (1978)
pp
120 $5.
Throughout
the
Commonwealth,
and
indeed
most of
the
western world,
much
the same questions have
been
faced
by penologists in
the
last decade. Should
prison sentences
be
shorter
or
longer? What range of alternatives to custody
should
be
available? What should
happen
to the offender at the
end
of sentence?
The
precise articulation of the discussion
may
vary,
but
the same fundamentals
remain.
.This seminar contains,
among
its discussion papers, amelange of contributions
in these areas.
The
title "Sentencing" is
probably
the least
common
denominator
of topics encompassed.
The
case for alternatives to imprisonment in general,
the
Community Service
Order
.specifically,
and
the
determinate/indeterminate
prison sentence
dilemma
are presented. Although one
can
see
some
practical
benefit of the proceedings in informing those attending
the
seminar of trends
and
developments, reading
them
some
months later afeeling emerges
that
nothing
new
or
of
lasting
importance
is said in the latter half
of
the publication.
The
first
major
theme
of
the seminar, however, is
somewhat
fresher, if not in
its object
then
at least in its
approach.
The
disparity which arises in lower courts'
sentences
due
to the element
of
personal discretion has long
been
an object
of
debate
and
often
of censure.
Drs
Coyle
and
Francis
of
the
Department
of
Psychology at La
Trobe
University
present
a series of
papers
and
comments on
the use of
videotape
experiments to
determine
sentencing differentials,
and
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