I am a first-year PhD student at the University of Warwick’s Law School, with supervisors in both Law and Politics.

My research explores which factors states should take into account when sentencing criminal wrongdoers, doing so through a normative evaluation of various considerations that we may think should affect a state’s decision (and standing) to punish.

This analysis includes whether factors beyond one’s guilt for the wrongdoing should play a role in deciding the appropriate punishment. I research if and how the following should affect sentences: a) relative (dis)advantage; b) whether (dis)advantage present is wrongful; c) if the state is responsible for this disadvantage; d) the victim(s) identity; e) who is deterred by the sentence; and, f) crimes against whom are prevented.

Using the tools of analytical legal philosophy to rigorously examine such considerations, I aim to build on theories of punishment that are sensitive to social justice (e.g., Duff, 2001; Tadros, 2009) to produce a framework detailing why, how, and when factors beyond one’s culpability should influence sentencing (and possible early release) decisions.