Les Misérables on sentencing
Subtitle: Valjean, Fantine, Javert and the Bishop debate the principles
By: Gilles Renaud ; foreword by Julian Roberts
Publisher: Sandstone Academic Press
Published: 2007
Place of publication: Melbourne
Language: eng
Number of pages: 93
ISBN-13: 9780975783962
Subjects: Sentences (Criminal procedure); Punishment; Law in literature; Crime in literature; Misérables (Hugo, Victor)
Description: Victor Hugo's immortal novel Les Mis rables is regarded universally as one of the greatest indictments of injustice ever drawn. Indeed, the main character Jean Valjean represents the best known example of an offender who has been punished unfairly and without regard to the mitigating circumstances that led to his crime, that of stealing bread with which to feed his family. The other characters are also closely associated with different elements of injustice: Fantine, who is led to prostitution and social degradation when she loses her employment; Javert, the police inspector, implacable and without mercy; and Bishop Welcome, the fictional embodiment of mercy and of forgiveness for wrongdoing. Brought to life as the main speakers of a fictional sentencing conference, these four characters explore contemporary sentencing principles by examining their lives against the backdrop of modern views on punishment and policing. The resulting debates succeed in pointing the way to a number of much-needed developments in the law of sentencing and punishment.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.

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Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: Fantine's lecture : the objective gravity of offences : how important is personal well being in the eyes of legislators? --; title: The Bishop's lecture : anyone may undergo life-transforming evolutions for the better, or the worse --; title: The Bishop's lecture : sentencing and evaluating the offender community --; title: Fantine's topic : the law of unintended consequences operates in the sentencing sphere --; title: Inspector Javert's topics : the lack of reliability of certain collateral inquiries conducted by probation officers at the direction of the court and "sentencing Robin Hood!" --; title: Javert's lecture : the pains of imprisonment and the future of prisons : there must be enlightened penology --; title: Valjean's lecture : sentencing and social deprivation : it is just to award leniency to offenders who have a sad life? --; title: Valjean's lecture : the gradation of punishment --; title: The Bishop's topics : justice in punishment : love the sinner, hate the sin! --; title: Fantine's topic : respect for non-human animals --; title: Fantine's lecture : punishing prostitution, punishing victims? --; title: The Bishop's lecture : re-admitting individuals to the embrace of the community as a means of ensuring rehabilitation.