The criminal law's person By C. Lernestedt, M. Matravers (Eds.), Oxford: Hart. 2022. pp. 216. £85.00 (hbk). ISBN: 9781509923748
| Published date | 01 March 2023 |
| Author | David Prendergast |
| Date | 01 March 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12519 |
144 BOOK REVIEWS
comparative approach in this chapter, reflecting on the continued use of capital punishment in
the United States and its stark contrast with the Norwegian approach.
Finally,Chapter 5 considers the aim of sentencing as reparation. Within this chapter, the author
discusses restitution orders, the victim surcharge, court costs and COs and SSOs. They note that
reparation is integrated throughout the sentencing process and highlight the importance of com-
pensation within the criminal justice system by drawing attention to its mandatory nature. The
author does not shy away from controversial elements of sentencing, for example, the victim
surcharge. Within this chapter, the author also dedicates time to reviewing restorative justice
procedures. While the use of restorative justice falls outside the remit of this book (applying to
out-of-court disposals), the author identifies the strengths and challenges of this approach. Fur-
ther, they note that a weakness of the English and Welsh system may be that restorative justice
techniques are not available as a diversionary tactic, and instead rely on there being a conviction
before it can take place.
In conclusion, this book seeks to illustrate the variety of judicial aims in sentencing and the
ways in which they manifest in the day-to-day running of the magistrates’ courts and the Crown
Court. By using real sentencing remarks, the reader can ‘examine the theory throughthe prism of
practice’ (p.127). Indeed, as the author points out, these sentencing remarks illustratethe diff icult
sentencing decisions that judges must undertake, even with sentencing guidelines in place. It is
through these real-life examples that the gulf between practice and theory can be observed, and
that the abstract becomes real.
REFERENCE
Sykes, G.M.(1958) The society of captives: a study of a maximum security prison. Princeton, NJ.: Princeton University
Press.
DOI: 10.1111/ho jo.12519
The criminal law’s person
By C. Lernestedt, M. Matravers (Eds.), Oxford: Hart. 2022. pp.216. £85.00 (hbk). ISBN:
9781509923748
David Prendergast
Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin
Email: David.Prendergast@tcd.ie
The criminal law’s person is a multifaceted exploration of how substantive criminal law takes
humans – or makes them out – to be. As explained in the editors’ efficient and perspicacious
introduction essay, the criminal law’s person might be set by how people actually are, what they
ought to be, or some purpose-driven fictional construct (p.8). The book’s final essay, ‘Implicit
bias, self-defence and the reasonable person’, by Jules Holroyd and Federico Picinali, unpacks
‘reasonable person’ belief-based exculpatory tests in defensive force law in England and Wales
and the United States and evaluates them for their facilitation of morally problematic cognitive
bias, which, the authors conclude, ‘cannot be avoided in the presence of racist social structures’
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