Kinder Justice: Communicating Legitimacy to Children in Sentencing Courts

Abstract

This article examines the impact and significance to child defendants in England and Wales of sentence communication. Drawing on a qualitative study with justice-experienced children, I suggest that how sentences are delivered matters deeply to children's perceptions of legitimacy in three ways that coalesce around the concept I call ‘kinder justice’. First, legitimacy is enhanced by approaches that communicate care (invoking kinder as a verb); second, children want recognition of their status as a child (employing kinder as a noun); and third, children value sentencing remarks that reflect their family's (kin's) version of the child's self, not the ‘proper criminal’ they feel portrayed as in court. Together, drawing on Honneth's theory of recognition, I argue these three forms of kinder justice highlight the importance of recognitional justice during the sentencing process.