The fields of criminal sentencing and punishment have continuously been confronted with complex societal, ethical, and legal challenges. While some of these challenges have existed for decades, notably over-punishment and the over-representation of marginalized groups within the purview of punishment, others have more recently emerged from novel developments within society and policy, such as the rise of Artificial Intelligence and the employment of modern science and new technologies in criminal justice, which warrant further analysis. Against this backdrop, this workshop brings legal scholars from different jurisdictions together to discuss novel perspectives and alternative models addressing important diachronic issues and current questions within these fields. The talks will provide a broad analysis of current debates that surround the state of the art and future of sentencing, including its theoretical goals, principles, and factors, its implications for different groups of defendants and types of offenses, and the concrete potential of empirical and cross-disciplinary knowledge to aid in sentencing authorities. The overall goal is to offer a forum for discussing the dynamics, shortcomings, and comparative significance of modern sentencing trends and sanction models, with special focus on the aspects that are most in need of reform.
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