ABSTRACT
Thischapteroffersapersonalreflectiononthecontributionstothiscollection. Imakenoattempttocoveralloftheissuesraisedinthebooknorto acknowledgethecontributionofeachauthor.Rather,Iaimtoreflectonthe mainchallengesforsentencingscholarshipandresearchwhichhaveemerged fromthiscollection.Almostalloftheessaysaddressandindeedformpart of,whatvonHirschhasdescribedas"thesentencingreformproject"(von Hirsch2001).Thereisastrongfocusonhowtotransformsentencingandon theformswhichsentencingoughttoadopt.Myargumentinthischapteris thatsentencingscholarshipneedstobeinformedbyamoresophisticated understandingofthesocialconditionsofsentencing,byabetterunderstanding ofsentencingasasocialpracticeandbyasharperappreciationofthepolitical contextwithinwhichsentencingreformtakesplace.
