Guide to the Penalty Code and to Judicial Sanctions

Sanction Statements and Sanction Deliberations

(This information is provided to responding students and, in addition, is posted on the Judicial Affairs website with the documents describing hearings in both contested and uncontested cases.)

If you intend to ask your Judicial Panel to consider sanctions that deviate or depart from a standard sanction(s) should you be found responsible for a violation, you are strongly advised to submit a written sanction statement detailing the reasons why a deviation or departure should be granted. Such written documentation makes it easier for the Panel to consider each facet of your argument, and it ensures that the Panel is hearing your position in your words once it begins its deliberations. In particular, you should outline the impact the standard sanction(s) would have on you.

It is helpful for Judicial Panels to know:

• Your academic plans (e.g., course requirements, course scheduling, financial aid, etc.)
• Your plans after graduation (if within the year following the hearing)
• Assistantships, internships, scholarships, etc. that are affected
• Visa/immigration status ramifications
• Information about other aspects of your situation that you believe would be unduly impacted by the standard sanction

In regard to these factors, you should explain how the standard sanction(s) would affect each; you should also detail your specific request, how the standard sanction(s) would affect your request, and the rationale for your request. Even though your sanction statement will not be given to your Panel unless and until it finds you responsible for violating the Honor Code or Fundamental Standard, you should plan on submitting it to the Judicial Advisor at least 5 business days in advance of the hearing. The advance submission allows the Judicial Advisor time to verify the information you provide in your statement.

The Judicial Advisor can be a valuable resource in helping you present your arguments as strongly and thoroughly as possible. For instance, simply stating that a quarter of suspension would, in effect, delay your academic progress by a year has not proved persuasive to panelists. While writing out your quarter-by-quarter academic plan could prove helpful, this alone would not inform the Panel about what options or alternatives are available (e.g., course substitutions). What has been persuasive to Panels has been documentation from an adviser in your academic department detailing what effect a specific quarter off would have on your academic progress. This might require you to self-disclose to the adviser why you are asking for such detailed documentation so that the adviser can provide the most accurate and relevant information. Obviously, before making a decision to self-disclose, you should weigh the pros and cons of losing some privacy against the value of this information.

The Panel can only base its consideration of your request on the information you provide. In accordance with past practice/precedent, and considering all other mitigating and aggravating factors in your case, it will make a fair and appropriate sanction decision. You are strongly urged to confer with the Judicial Advisor in advance, at length, if you hope that the Judicial Panel will deviate from the standard practice, as it is unusual for Panels to do so.

After your Judicial Panel has finished asking you questions about the impact of potential sanctions, it will ask the reporting party if he/she has further comments. It will also ask the Judicial Officer if there are mitigating and/or aggravating factors in the case that have not yet been presented. And finally, the Panel will ask you for final comments. This will be your last opportunity to speak to the panelists about anything else relevant to your case that has not been presented before.

The Panel will then adjourn to deliberate in closed-door session, and you, the reporting party, and the Judicial Officer will again be excused.

Sanction deliberations usually last between 15-45 minutes, but some have lasted for several hours. You, the reporting party, and the Judicial Officer will be invited to return to hear the decision, although neither your attendance nor that of the reporting party is mandatory. If you and/or the reporting party choose to leave once deliberations have begun, the Judicial Advisor will notify you and him/her of the outcome via email immediately after the hearing is concluded.

Please note that Judicial Panel deliberations are confidential; thus, the Judicial Advisor (who sits in and is available to answer process or procedure-related questions the panelists might have) will not be able to provide information other than what is contained in the Hearing Report.

Back to top