During the course of 2020/21, the Sentencing Academy ran a Fellowship Scheme as part of our commitment to furthering knowledge on sentencing issues and widening participation. Anisa Kebbati and Jamie Dickson were supervised to produce a piece of research on a sentencing issue of their choice and we are very grateful to Dr Shona Minson and Professor Nicky Padfield for providing the supervision. The views expressed in the papers are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Sentencing Academy.
Anisa Kebbati
Anisa graduated from the University of Southampton with an LLB degree and, thanks to a scholarship from Middle Temple, is now studying the Bar Training Course with the University of Law. She recently completed a 3-month legal internship with Guernica 37 chambers where she undertook various domestic and international legal work. She has a strong interest in crime, criminal justice and sentencing. She is currently in the process of applying for pupillage and hopes to practice crime.
In her spare time, she has volunteered with the Southampton Pro Bono Housing Clinic and Advocate where she assisted in delivering free legal advice and persuaded barristers to take on cases pro bono. She is currently working as a student legal advisor for the University of Law Legal Advice Centre giving advice on family law (specifically children law).
Her research on the Sentencing Academy Fellowship Scheme involved looking at the impact of short custodial sentences on women and their children. More specifically, it explores the best interests of the child in a criminal context and considers whether suspended sentences would better protect those rights as opposed to short custodial sentences. Her research was supervised by Dr Shona Minson (University of Oxford).
Anisa’s paper is available here
Jamie Dickson
Jamie graduated from the University of Manchester with a Law with Criminology degree and then went on to complete the Bar Training Course with BPP, whilst working as a Criminal Paralegal alongside her studies. During an internship with the Pro Bono services in Singapore she witnessed the importance of safeguards within a criminal justice system for vulnerable defendants, which motivated her to complete a research project on the sentencing of offenders with mental ill health in England and Wales.
Throughout the course of her research she analysed the sentencing guidelines for offenders with mental disorders, which came into force in 2020, and suggested recommendations for improvements. Her research was supervised by Professor Nicky Padfield (University of Cambridge) and Jamie hopes to use her research to help raise awareness for offenders with mental disorders as she continues on her journey towards a career at the criminal Bar.
Jamie’s paper is available here
