Learning to Sentence: An Empirical Study of Judicial Attitudes towards Judicial Training

This paper aims to present an innovative type of empirical research in judicial studies. It focuses on assessing the attitudes and perceptions judges have towards the way they learn how to sentence throughout the course of their judicial careers. The first main assumption is that judges learn all throughout their lives, both through the formal training offered and other informal sources of learning (such as the practice of sentencing, or peer advice). The second main assumption is that the judges’ learning needs and perceptions towards training change as they gain more experience and they are exposed to various learning contexts. So far the study was conducted in one European jurisdiction, totalling 510 judicial respondents ranging from 0 to 40 years judicial experience. This paper presents the preliminary findings with regards to their views on the judicial training they receive.