News & events

Events

Retributive justice and socioeconomics of crime and punishment in a developing country

10 June 2012
10:00 - 11:30

The question of whether granting the judiciary discretion over assignment of penalties at conviction engender retributive justice in practice or not has received very limited attention in the literature.  It has been argued that limiting the discretionary powers could lead to unjust punishment regarding especially cases that require imposition of fines which do not consider the financial position of an offender. In contrast, however, unlimited discretionary powers could result in judicial corruption. In Ghana where judges have overwhelming discretionary powers, the judicial system is generally perceived as corrupt favoring elites who have access to more money to steal. This hypothesis has been tested using data on theft cases convicted in Ghana.

Download and view the presentation

Kindly RSVP by 1 June 2012

Cape Town : HSRC, 12th Floor, Plein Park Building (Opposite Revenue Office), Plein Street, Cape Town. Contact Vuyokazi Ngxubaza, Tel (021) 4668004, Fax (021) 461 0299, or VNgxubaza@hsrc.ac.za, Cell: 082 0508453

Durban :  First floor HSRC board room, 750 Francois Road, Ntuthuko Junction, Pods 5 and 6, Cato Manor, Contact Ridhwaan Khan, Tel (031) 242 5400, cell: 083 788 2786 or RKhan@hsrc.ac.za

Pretoria : HSRC Video Conference, 1st floor HSRC Library Human Sciences Research Council, 134 Pretorius Street, Pretoria. Arlene Grossberg, Tel: (012) 302 2811, e-mail: acgrossberg@hsrc.ac.za