Who owns sentencing? A Reply

Bartholomew (1996) has taken issue with comments made in a previous article (Indermaur, 1994) regarding sentencing practice and offenders' perceptions. In this reply I reiterate my argument that sentencing could be considerably enhanced through the incorporation of information and perspectives from psychology and criminology. Much of the misunderstanding displayed in Bartholomew's comments can be attributed to the legal paradigm he adopts when looking at my study. This misunderstanding is seen as characteristic of the difficulty those aligned with current sentencing practice have in opening up to new perspectives. A number of studies illustrating the disarray in criminal procedure and the subjectivity of sentencing are referred to in an attempt to point out the limitations of the status quo.