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Abstract

An irrelevant media when sentencing theft offenders occurs where judges lack trust and respect in what is being reported to the public. A significant lack of judicial faith is likely to lead to a reassessment of how best the judiciary can positively manage their relations with both the media and the general public. To reveal the level of impact from media reporting this research qualitatively compared the lower Court theft sentencing perceptions of 12 Danish and 12 English judges. This revealed that there was a similar predominantly negative Danish and English judicial rejection of the media as being biased and misinformed. However, judicial trust in academic and government sources was predominantly positively received due to the greater depth of analysis and peer review processes involved. These two most trusted media sources should be focused upon when managing future relations with the media and public. This focused approach supports the shared judicial perceptions in England and Denmark that the quality of media reporting matters far more than the quantity. The English Judiciary can and should provide quality benchmarks for the multitude of media sources to aspire to and thereby inform the public of their continuing commitment to sentencing transparency and independence.

Available Versions of this Item

• “An irrelevant mass media? – Comparing the perceptions of English and Danish lower Court judges when sentencing theft offenders.”. (deposited 22 Sep 2010 16:41)
  • An irrelevant media when sentencing? – Comparing the perceptions of English and Danish lower Court judges when sentencing theft offenders. (deposited 31 Jan 2011 13:57) [Currently Displayed]

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