David Arthur Thomas: Difference between revisions

British legal scholar (1938–2013)

David A. Thomas QC (17 October 1938 – 30 September 2013), was a British legal scholar, judge, and leading^[1] authority on sentencing in England and Wales. Educated at Queens’ College, Cambridge, he taught at the LSE before joining the Cambridge Institute of Criminology, where he became Reader and a Fellow of Trinity Hall.

He authored Principles of Sentencing ^[2], curated and maintained the loose-leaf reference Current Sentencing Practice^[3] and the annual Sentencing Referencer^[4], developed the Criminal Appeal Reports (Sentencing), and edited the sentencing digest of the Criminal Law Review. His systematic collation of sentencing decisions and statutes established the analytical framework that shaped modern sentencing practice in England and Wales.

David Arthur Thomas was born on 17 October 1938 in Liverpool.^[5]
He attended the Liverpool Institute grammar school and went up to Queens’ College, Cambridge, in 1957, initially to read English before transferring to Law. He graduated with a BA (1960) and an LLB (1961).^[6]

Thomas began as a lecturer in law at the London School of Economics (1961–1971).^[6]
In 1971 he joined the Cambridge Institute of Criminology as Assistant Director of Research, later becoming University Lecturer and Fellow of Trinity Hall.^[7]
He was awarded an LLD and retired as Reader in Criminology in 2003.^[7]
He also served as a Recorder of the Crown Court.^[1]

Thomas’s scholarship defined sentencing law and practice in late-twentieth-century England and Wales.

• Thomas, David A. (1970). Principles of Sentencing: The Sentencing Policy of the Court of Appeal, Criminal Division. London: Heinemann. ISBN 9780435828806.^[2]
• Thomas, David A. (1984). Sentencing and Penal Policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Thomas, David A. (1980). Current Sentencing Practice. London: Sweet & Maxwell. ISBN 9780421257405.
• Thomas, David A.; Walker, Nigel (1993). Principles of Sentencing (5th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Thomas, David A. (1987). Criminal Law: Cases and Materials on Sentencing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Thomas, D A (1973). “Sentencing in the Crown Court”. Criminal Law Review: 695–708.
• Thomas, D A (1976). “The Totality Principle in Sentencing”. Criminal Law Review: 40–46.
• Thomas, D A (1977). “Crown Court Sentencing Survey 1968–1974”. Criminal Law Review: 310–322.
• Thomas, D A (1979). “Appellate Control of Sentencing”. Cambridge Law Journal. 38: 44–68.
• Thomas, D A (1989). “Confiscation Orders and the Criminal Justice Act 1988”. Criminal Law Review: 741–752.
• Thomas, D A (1990). “The Effect of Guilty Pleas on Sentence”. Criminal Law Review: 49–56.
• Thomas, D A (1993). “Guideline Judgments and Judicial Discretion”. Criminal Law Review: 189–200.
• Thomas, D A (1999). “Sentencing in the Age of Guidelines”. Criminal Law Review: 575–589.
• Thomas, D A (2002). “The Sentencing Code and Appellate Review”. Criminal Law Review: 641–655.

Thomas’s exposition of legal principles to be derived from pre-1970 sentencing decisions of the Court of Appeal in Principles of Sentencing^[2] was described as being akin to finding the Abominable Snowman.^[9] His analyses of proportionality and the totality principle were later cited by the Court of Appeal.^[10]
He was central to judicial training through the Judicial Studies Board, helping to establish guideline-based sentencing.
The Guardian and The Times described him as “the country’s pre-eminent authority on sentencing” and “a quiet revolutionary” who rationalised modern sentencing.^[1][5]