Evidence-based Sentencing and Scientific Evidence. At the same Time, some Reflections on «Evidence-based Policies» and Criminal Law

Abstract

Evidence-based sentencing (EBS) is a recent name for a claim that has deep roots in criminal law: to apply the sentence that is most appropriate to the risk of recidivism posed by each offender, in order to reduce this risk as much as possible. This modern version of special prevention inserts itself in the broader approach of the so-called «evidence-based public policies». It considers that the best existing evidence for reducing recidivism are modern structured risk assessment tools, and it claims to be able to achieve several objectives at the same time: reduce recidivism, maintain a high level of public safety, make a more efficient use of public resources, and move criminal policy away from ideological struggles by basing it on the objective knowledge provided by the best available scientific evidence. Of the many problems that surround EBS, this work focuses only on one: the quality of the scientific evidence on which it is based, and the available data on the extent to which it achieves (or not) its intended objectives.