Councilman Dennis Gallagher was accused of raping and assaulting a Queens woman. The alleged event took place on July 8, 2007. Although Councilman Gallagher said it was consensual sex, the plaintiff says otherwise. When it was brought to trail by a grand-jury preceding the judge claimed the defense team had unfairly presented their case to the grand jury. About a month from the ruling, Councilman Gallagher was offered a plea deal reducing the charges brought against him as well as future happenings. The woman, the victim in the case was upset by the offering and has said that she will make sure Gallagher gets indicted.…
Beginning in the early 1990s, states began to enact mandatory sentencing laws for repeat criminal offenders. These statutes came to be known as "three strikes laws," because they were invoked when offenders committed their third offense. By 2003 over half the states and the federal government had enacted three strikes laws. The belief behind the laws was that getting career criminals off the streets was good public policy. However, incarceration of three strikes inmates for 25 years to life would drive up correctional costs. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld three strikes laws and has rejected…
“Three strikes and you’re out”. This is the all too familiar term we are used to hearing in baseball and in the rules of the law in some states. Most heard of in California. Three strikes sentencing were adopted in 1994. It imposed longer prison sentences for repeat offenders. The law requires a person who is convicted of a felony and who previously has been convicted of one or more violent and/or serious felonies. The main feature of the Three Strikes law is the imposition of a life sentence for any felony conviction, no matter how minor, if the defendant has two prior "serious" felony convictions. "Serious" felonies are defined by the California Penal Code and range from murder and rape to non-confrontational residential burglary and purse-snatching.…
Most adults, who have a background check, have no Medical issues. If some adults who have medical issue could use the gun in the wrong way and not have a background check. Although background checks should be enforced when purchasing a gun. Although over 90% of the public supports background checks for all gun purchases, yet it failed to pass the U.S senate. Background checks will help, people that are not mentally ill be able to own a gun. Mentally ill people would need a background check to see their side effects, and then they can get clear to purchase a…
The four philosophical reasons for sentencing criminals are rehabilitation, incapacitation, deterance, and retribution. Rehabilitation is when a criminal is thought to be better off by being placed in a residential, or group home facility. Many times these crimes are drug releated and the courts feel that the criminal will be better off rehabilitating in a 12-step AA or NA drug program rather than being incarcerated for their crime. In any case that their case was not fueled by intenet rather than a need to feed a habit etc. Incapacitation is when the court feels that a criminal will be better off incarcerated and kept away from society. Many times these crimes are violent and incarceration is the best option to protevt the criminal and society. Deterance many times has to do with incarceration. For the criminal may feel incarceration has deterred them from recommitting the same act in fear that they may be incarcerated again and even face far more time. Also many times society watches as people are punshied for certain crimes and the judge may be making a example out of that certain case, in showing society that if you commit this crime than this is what can happen. Retribution can and often goes along with incarceration, though can be sentenced alone. Retribution is usually sentenced as a repayment for lost or damaged goods, or some type of community service time like 20 hours ordered to complete at an elderly housing home without pay. Basically either giving back to the victim, their family, or society, in an effort to pay back for their crime, and or repay the victim for pain and suffering.…
Middle-Class Delinquency’s Relationship to Gangs: A Persuasive Thesis Statement on a study of whether middle class delinquents more susceptible to committing crime and joining gangs. Although many gang members are now coming from middle class neighborhoods, not all delinquent teens turn to crime or gang life, so how are middle class youth influenced into becoming gang members? The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and local law enforcement agencies estimate 1.4 million gang members are in the United States today, with a growing number coming from middle, socio-economic communities. Why are delinquent, middle class teens ostracized by social controls to the point they actively feel a need to pursue a gang membership to fulfill a bizarre…
Punishment can be broke down into four fundamental objectives. These objectives are deterrence, retribution, rehabilitation, and incapacitation.…
There are more and more cases of wrongfully convicted African Americans occurring nowadays. According to National Registry of Exonerations of the United States, 58 people were exonerated in 2015, more than two thirds were minorities, including half who were African Americans. 22 cases according to the same source are cases of false confessions. Moreover, this exoneration cases include false confessions under police oppression or African American wrongfully accused by white people. Racist-oriented criminal justice system and society, socioeconomic factors as high poverty percentage, disadvantaged neighborhood – all of these factors are playing crucial role in African Americans’ being put in prison more often today. Most of these factors are…
3. Beck, Allan, Darrell Gilliard, Lawrence Greenfeld, Caroline Harlow, Thomas Hester, Louis Jankowski, Tracy Schnell, James Stephan, and Danielle Morton. 1993. Survey of State Prison Inmates. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics.…
Fred is drunk and driving his dad’s car. Fred is a 21 year old student at Columbia College. Fred rams into a parked car at 10th and Rogers. Thinking no one saw him; Fred moves his car and parks it on an adjacent lot. He sprints to his dorm room in Miller Hall. A neighbor saw the wreck and Fred running to the dorm. Police are called and they arrive ten minutes after the wreck. The officers see several empty beer cans and a bottle of tequila (half full) in the front seat. The tags are traced to Fred’s dad, who is called by police. Dad says that Fred is a student at Columbia College. Police run Fred's record and determine that he has two prior DWIs within the past five years. The third DWI in 10 years is a felony. Police contact Columbia College security who leads them to Fred’s dorm. Fred is passed out, so security lets them in. The officers smell intoxicants, give Fred some Field Sobriety tests (he fails) and confirm that he was driving the car. Fred is arrested for DWI. It is his third offense, a felony under Missouri law. Fred is given a breath test, which registers at .13 on the scale. During the processing of his arrest paperwork, the officers search Fred’s possessions which he brought to the station, and a small quantity of cocaine is found in Fred’s pocket. Fred is charged with DWI, leaving the scene, and possession of cocaine. What issues do you see? How should they be resolved? (50 points)…
In 2011, there were around 4.3 million Americans came onto or off probation (BOJ, 2011). Probation departments are para-military organizations but also have an aspect of socialism to them. Clear department goals help probation officers to know their roles and make appropriate decisions. Furthermore, the work expectations of a younger generation are different and do not necessarily fit into the traditional model of military type organizations. Examination of the probation organizational behavior will answer many questions, including the challenges to the deterrence of crime, financial, and the ability of probation officers to focus on offenders risk/needs.…
How do you feel about the fact that wrongful convictions occur in the United States?…
Convictions are defined as: 1. An unshakable belief in something without need for proof or evidence. 2. (Criminal law) a final judgment of guilty in a criminal case and the punishment that is imposed; "the conviction came as no surprise". 3. The act of convicting; the act of proving, finding, or adjudging, guilty of an offense. 4. A judgment of condemnation entered by a court having jurisdiction; the act or process of finding guilty, or the state of being found guilty of any crime by a legal tribunal 5. The act of convincing of error, or of compelling the admission of a truth; confutation 6. The state of being convinced or convicted; strong persuasion or belief; especially, the state of being convicted of sin, or by one's conscience. .[Websters]…
Fines are one of the oldest forms of punishment, the use of fines as criminal sanctions suffers from built in inequities and a widespread failure to collect them (Schmalleger, 2011). Fines can deprive offenders of the proceeds of criminal activity, and also promote rehabilitation by enforcing economic responsibility (Schmalleger, 2011). People have to pay fines when they break minor laws, such as driving while intoxicated, reckless driving, disturbing the peace, public drunkenness, and vandalism (Schmalleger, 2011).…
The United States Incarceration system have produced a new social group, these individuals are categorized as social deviants who are joined by the shared experience of incarceration, crime, poverty, racial minority, and low education. However, researchers recently examined the grey area of innocent individuals have been are convicted and serve time within the American criminal justice system. The new group that has emerged is called "exonerees". Twenty-six years ago, “exoneration” did not exist in the United States. Exoneration refers to the process by which a government entity, by way of a pardon or judicial order, concedes that a convicted person is indeed innocent.…