Resource:
Schmalleger, F., & Smykla, J. (n.d). Corrections in the 21st century. Retrieved from https://www.betheluniversityonline.net/
The economic downturn has resulted in budget cuts to the criminal justice system across the nation. As a result, state legislators looked for ways to reduce budgets. One area of focus has been the court system. This paper will present an evaluation of the budgeting crisis and potential recommendations to the court system.…
Bartollas, C. (2002). Invitation to corrections (1st ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon…
This one problem has led to additional problems both inside correctional facilities and outside in society. For example, when overcrowding occurs and is capped at the state level, prisoners sentenced to the department of corrections remain in the county jail until a bed becomes available but in most cases the county jails are full. In many instances, the jails are under a court order capping jail population, and pressure is brought to bear on the court system to reduce the flow of offenders sentenced to incarceration. As a result, more serious offenders with fewer convictions or career criminals who manage the system effectively are given probation, and first offenders and less serious offenders with longer records are incarcerated (Muraskin & Roberts, Pg.…
The United States Sentencing Commission is responsible for sentencing policy in federal courts. In 1980 they reformed the federal sentencing. The intent was to provide determinate sentencing. Determinate sentencing is a fixed period of incarceration without the possibility of parole, but time served can be reduced by accumulating good time. “Coinciding with the development of determinate sentencing has been the development of sentencing guidelines to control and structure the process and make it more rational. Guidelines are usually based on the seriousness of a crime and the background of an offender: The more serious the crime and the more extensive the offender’s criminal background, the longer the prison term recommended by the guidelines.” (Segel & Senna 2006). These guidelines were designed to eliminate judicial discretion and get tough on crime.…
Keeping in mind the brief overview of each of the major rationales for sentencing will allow the following four arguments to be understood with greater clarity. To begin, the first argument to support the urgent need to restructure the criminal justice system is the effect and impact of mandatory minimum sentencing on the high rates of incarcerations. The effects of mandatory minimum sentencing are staggering, and transcend into many different areas of the criminal justice system. The principal justification for the creation of mandatory minimum sentences is that by increasing the likelihood of custody, it will be a strict deterrent for crime prevention and a response to political “tough on crime” strategies. It was also thought to minimize…
On August 8th, 2013 United States Attorney General Eric Holder made history when he announced the nearing end of the mandatory minimum-era in federal sentencing policy in his speech to the American Bar Association in San Francisco. In his address Holder lamented the condition of the Federal Justice System, expressing concern over astronomical incarceration rates, lack of inmate rehabilitation, and discouraging recidivism rates. It was racial disparities in sentencing, however, which garnered the majority of Holder’s attention.…
Mandatory minimums are laws which require automatic prison terms for certain crimes, such as drug possession. These laws were passed to ensure that individual criminals served long prison sentences. However, there some critics that have voiced their concerns about mandatory minimum penalties in the United States.…
Every situation in life is unique and has its own set of circumstances. Crime is no different, which is why it often difficult to effectively use policies like mandatory minimum sentences, because not every crime is the same. It is acceptable for their to be some disparity in sentencing for similar crimes, but there still needs to be some consistency. The initiation of mandatory minimum sentences was due in large part to the fact that judges had too much discretion and it led to many similar cases having wildly different sentences.1 There was sound reasoning for enacting mandatory minimum sentences, but they “are the product of good intentions, but good intentions do not always make good policy; good results are also necessary.”1 Mandatory…
Over the last two decades (1980-2000), the US prison population has increased 450%. California has led the nation in prison growth since the early 1980s, and it incarcerated a higher percentage of its population than any nation on earth by 1994. The same year California enacted a controversial sentencing law that will drive prison growth for decades to come. This is the story of that law.…
There are many different argument both for and against mandatory minimum drug sentencing. However there are more arguments against mandatory minimum drug sentencing then there are for the support of the mandatory sentencing. One of the biggest arguments against mandatory minimum drug sentencing is that it was originally intended to target the higher level drug dealers but the majority of the cases have only been low level drug dealers. One of the other arguments is that will cause the jail systems to become overcrowded and that if is unfair.…
The last stage of a criminal trial is known as sentencing. During sentencing the convening authority over the criminal court proceedings makes a determination of how the guilty party should be punished. Prior to that determination being made both the defense attorneys and prosecutors may make their arguments as to why or why not the defendant should be punished to the fullest of the law. The judge taking these arguments into consideration makes his or her decision on what type sentence to hand down. While the main goal is to punish those that are found guilty there are five sentencing rationales in use in the American criminal justice system. These rationales are retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, restoration, and incapacitation. In the case of State v. Stu Dents, the judge will use the rationales of rehabilitation and incapacitation. The defense and prosecutors will make their arguments and propose the type of sentence Mr. Dents should receive which in turn will protect him and society.…
Many people are victims of a crime, or they’re the ones committing the crime. Some of these crimes that have been committed are sentenced as Mandatory Minimum Sentencing. Mandatory Minimum sentencing is when a person convicts a crime, and must be in prison for a minimum term, the days of punishment is up to the judges to decide. In this occasion the kind of crime that they commit depends on the amount of time the assailant will serve. What does the world have to offer of this law.…
Prisons are already filled beyond maximum capacity, and we continue to keep incarcerating more people. What can be done to end the problem of prison overcrowding and maintain the safety of the public? I chose this topic because I wanted to shine a light on what I consider to be an injustice. I believe that the criminal justice system needs a complete overhaul. When I chose this topic, I wasn’t fully aware of the mandatory sentencing guidelines or how harsh they were. I always believed that judges had more leeway in deciding sentencing. Originally, I hadn’t even considered the possibility of criminal corporal punishment, because I believed it was cruel and something that other less civilized countries would do, not America. I believe that the prison overcrowding problem can be resolved by changing our laws regarding nonviolent offenders, abolishing the mandatory sentencing guidelines and using alternative solutions that do not involve incarceration.…
For instance their studies have shown that although around 20,000 drug offenders have been sentenced to mandatory minimums in Massachusetts alone, rate of drug abuse and addiction has not declined. Their argument stands that if mandatory minimum sentences are repealed then that drug offenders should be sentenced like any other case in which someone breaks a law. A judge should look at the person’s criminal history, their involvement and severity of the crime committed, the danger that the person could be to society and if the person needs professional help, such as psychiatric care or drug treatments (FAMM). Mandatory minimums take the role a judge plays out of their…
Another contrast between cigarettes and cannabis, is that cannabis has medicinal properties. The most common use for marijuana in medicine is to diminish the effects of chemotherapy on cancer patients. The two most familiar components of marijuana to the medical industry is tetrahydrocannabinol or THC and cannabidiol or CBD. Both THC and CBD are noted in the US Patent # 6630507 as having antioxidant properties and being useful in treatment of side effects “caused by oxidative stress” such as chemotherapy (Hampson). Chemotherapy is the method of treating cancer in which you kill or stunt the growth of cells, in order to eliminate the cancerous ones. The possible side effects include headaches, pain from nerve damage, nausea, and vomiting. THC…