ABSTRACT

This chapter converses the problem of whether the absence of remorse should be treated as an aggravating factor. It argues that an absence of remorse should not, on its own, be treated as a positively aggravating factor in sentencing. The chapter aims to bring out more of what is at issue when a criminal offender lacks remorse. It surveys the main reasons why a criminal offender might lack remorse for his crime. The chapter mainly shows that there is indeed a variety of scenarios in question here, in order to problematize any simple policy of treating the absence of remorse as such as an aggravating factor in sentencing. Guilt-ridden or shame-filled offenders are probably much less likely to be in the running for an aggravation of sentence than offenders lacking any retractive emotion at all, since what they experience may well be viewed as a 'good enough' remorse-substitute.