Tom Geeson

I am a first year PhD researcher in the Law School funded by the AHRC Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership, having previously completed a Masters degree in Political and Legal Theory in Warwick’s Politics and International Studies (PAIS) department, passing with Distinction. I completed my Undergraduate degree in Politics from Newcastle University in 2023, receiving a first class mark and the John Wiseman Prize for best overall performance in my cohort.

My PhD research explores which factors states should take into account when sentencing criminal wrongdoers, doing so through a normative evaluation of various considerations that we may think should affect a state’s decision (and standing) to punish.

This analysis includes whether factors beyond a wrongdoer’s guilt should play a role in deciding the appropriate punishment. Specifically, I research if and how the following should affect sentences: a) relative (dis)advantage; b) whether (dis)advantage present is wrongful; c) if the state is responsible for this disadvantage; d) the victim(s) identity; e) who is deterred by the sentence; and, f) crimes against whom are prevented.