Objective

In this paper, we examine the antecedents of the sanctions of lashing and imprisonment for juveniles in Saudi Arabia.

Participants and setting

The current study examined 437 court cases and files across several court systems in Saudi Arabia to determine the extent to which justice-involved youth are punished. The data were drawn from hundreds of court files and records received from several court systems in Saudi Arabia spanning 2010 to 2015.

Methods

We tested several predictor variables on sentence type, number of lashes, and prison length. We employed binary logistic regression to examine sentence type, while we employed negative binomial analysis to examine the second and third dependent variables, number of lashes and length of prison sentence, respectively.

Results

We found that juveniles processed in juvenile court were more likely to receive more lenient sentences than juveniles tried in the general court system. In addition, older juveniles received harsher sentences (flogging and imprisonment) than younger juveniles (flogging or imprisonment), those who committed multiple offenses received more lashes than those who committed a single offense, and those who had both juvenile and adult criminal associates received more lashes than those who had only juvenile criminal associates. Moreover, the number of presiding judges influenced the severity of punishment: justice-involved youth who were tried by a single judge received fewer lashes than justice-involved youth who were tried by three or more judges. Lastly, justice-involved youth tried by a lone judge were less likely to be sentenced to a longer prison term than those tried by three or more judges. However, justice-involved youth tried by two judges received an even longer prison term than those tried by three or more judges.

Conclusion

About one-half of all rulings examined in the current study were presided over by a lone judge. While punishments imposed by lone judges were not as severe as those imposed by two judges or three or more judges, Saudi judges wield tremendous power over their fellow citizens, more so because there are no jury trials in the Kingdom. We therefore recommend that judicial training emphasize a “do no harm” principle in sentencing. Because a two-judge panel generally imposes a harsher sentence than a panel with three or more judges, we recommend an extensive examination of the country's prior judicial rulings presided over by two judges to understand why they are more likely to issue harsher sentences than lone judges or three- or four-judge panels. The findings would lead to the development of sentencing guidelines to curb arbitrary sentencing and reverse the generally unpredictable sentence lengths imposed on justice-involved youth.

中文翻译：

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沙特阿拉伯的罪与罚：鞭打、监禁和其他不寻常的惩罚

客观的

In this paper, we examine the antecedents of the sanctions of lashing and imprisonment for juveniles in Saudi Arabia.

Participants and setting

The current study examined 437 court cases and files across several court systems in Saudi Arabia to determine the extent to which justice-involved youth are punished. The data were drawn from hundreds of court files and records received from several court systems in Saudi Arabia spanning 2010 to 2015.

Methods

We tested several predictor variables on sentence type, number of lashes, and prison length. We employed binary logistic regression to examine sentence type, while we employed negative binomial analysis to examine the second and third dependent variables, number of lashes and length of prison sentence, respectively.

Results

We found that juveniles processed in juvenile court were more likely to receive more lenient sentences than juveniles tried in the general court system. In addition, older juveniles received harsher sentences (flogging and imprisonment) than younger juveniles (flogging or入狱），多次犯罪的人比一次犯罪的人受到的鞭刑更多，同时有少年和成年犯罪同伙的人比只有少年犯罪同伙的人受到的鞭刑更多。此外，主审法官的数量影响了惩罚的严厉程度：由一名法官审判的参与正义的青年比由三名或更多法官审判的参与正义的青年受到的鞭刑更少。最后，与由三名或更多法官审判的青年相比，由一名法官单独审判的涉及正义的青年被判处更长时间徒刑的可能性较小。然而，由两名法官审判的涉及正义的青年比由三名或更多法官审判的青年判刑时间更长。

结论

在当前研究中审查的所有裁决中，约有一半是由一名单独的法官主持的。虽然单独法官施加的惩罚不如两名法官或三名或更多法官施加的惩罚那么严厉，但沙特法官对其同胞拥有巨大的权力，更重要的是因为沙特王国没有陪审团审判。因此，我们建议司法培训在量刑时强调“不伤害”原则。由于由两名法官组成的合议庭通常会比由三名或更多法官组成的合议庭判处更严厉的刑罚，因此我们建议对该国之前由两名法官主持的司法裁决进行广泛审查，以了解为什么他们比单独法官更有可能做出更严厉的判决或三或四名评委小组。