This book demonstrated the benefit of widening the lens of analysis to encapsulate a range of influences, from the macro to the micro, that can build a better understanding of how and why judges decide to impose a particular sentence for a specific offence or offences. This helped situate decision-making in its structural and ecological context. Analysing a small group of cases at the apex of seriousness in the sexual offence category provided an opportunity to explore, interpret and extrapolate the meaning of the picture that emerged. Whether by design or happenstance, that picture was fairly consistent, at least in terms of the profile of facts and factors that resulted in sentences of 15 years to life imprisonment.

The examination of the offending itself and more traditional factors influencing sentencing outcomes (such as aggravating and mitigating factors) was important in understanding judicial perspectives on seriousness in sexual offence cases. The multiplicity of offending was a key driver of sentence outcomes in almost all of these cases. There is a tendency in official statistics, and many studies, to focus the analysis on the principal offence but this can clearly lead to misrepresentation given the volume of crimes committed in these cases.Expanding the scope of inquiry can also yield information on additional drivers outside of the aggravating and mitigating factors developed through the ‘sentencing canon’.