Introduction: Sentencing in Uncertain Times

Abstract The Oxford Handbook of Sentencing explores one of the most consequential and contested decision-points in the criminal justice system: whether and how to punish those convicted of crimes. During the current period of political polarization, declining trust in institutions, and concerns about the treatment of immigrants in the United States and elsewhere, longstanding sentencing practices are being questioned and reforms are afoot. This volume examines how sentencing policies and practices have evolved, and crucially, where they might go next. The introduction outlines the Handbook’s project, the texts and changes in the criminal justice system that it is responding to, and the polarized political context in which the volume’s arguments and analyses are made.