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Author	Prof Cheng, Kevin Kwok Yin
Organisation/Institution	The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)
Country	HONG KONG (SAR OF CHINA)
Panel	Criminal Law
Title	A Focal Concerns Perspective on Aggravating and Mitigating Factors in England & Wales and Hong Kong
Abstract	This study uses the focal concerns theory to examine judges’ considerations of aggravating and mitigating factors during sentencing. The focal concerns theory is a predominant theory in explaining judicial decisions in sentencing and sentence disparity, but it has yet been used to examine aggravating and mitigating factors across different legal jurisdictions, especially from a comparative perspective between Western and Asian jurisdictions. This is the first study of its kind to examine aggravating and mitigating factors from the focal concerns perspective in England and Wales and in Hong Kong. Drawing on data from the English Crown Court and the Hong Kong District Court and High Court, this study finds that while judges’ considerations of aggravating and mitigating factors can be effectively categorized into the three primary focal concerns of offender blameworthiness, the protection of the community, and practical constraints, their effects on sentence outcomes differs across different offenses and in different jurisdictions. This shows that different jurisdictions may prioritize various focal concerns differently. Moreover, judges may prioritize different focal concerns depending on the type of criminal offense. The results provide a more intricate understanding of the focal concerns theory and its application to sentencing factors across different legal jurisdictions. This work was supported by a General Research Fund (GRF) from the Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee of Hong Kong (Project No. 14607322).
Biography	Cheng, Kevin Kwok Yin is an Associate Professor and Assistant Dean (Research) at the Faculty of Law, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has written on sentencing, procedural justice, and guilty pleas. He has a keen interest in empirical legal research. His work can be found in both law and criminology journals including The Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, Asian Journal of Comparative Law, and the British Journal of Criminology. Cheng is also the author of The Timing of Guilty Pleas: Lessons from Common Law Jurisdictions (Cambridge University Press, 2023).