Sarah J Summers is Professor of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure Law and Criminology at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. She studied law at the University of Glasgow and received her doctorate from the University of Zurich. She was previously a member of the country section Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law, Freiburg, Germany and was the recipient of an SNSF Professorship (2012-2017) to conduct empirical research on fair trial rights in criminal proceedings

• 1: Sentencing and human rights


• 2: Legality


• 3: Proportionality


• 4: Equality and non-discrimination


• 5: Judicial imposition of punishment


• 6: The justification of punishment and human rights

Sentencing and Human Rights develops a systematic account of the importance of human rights principles at sentencing stage. It examines how principles of legality, proportionality, equality, and judicial responsibility may be expected to limit sentencing practices and suggests that the concept of state punishment needs to be reconsidered.