Homework Assignment 5

Module 5 Homework Assignment
CRJ 100: Introduction to Justice Administration
Jeniel Coombs
June 28, 2013
Allied American University

Author Note
This paper was prepared for Introduction to Justice Administration 100, Module 1 Homework Assignment taught by Walter Witham.

PART I: SHORT RESPONSE
1. Jurisdiction is the authority of a court to hear and decide cases. There are several types; a few are Appellate Jurisdiction, General Jurisdiction, Subject Matter Jurisdiction and Personal Jurisdiction. Appellate is a court that hears a case an appeal from a lower court. General is a court that hears various kinds of cases in general. Subject Matter is a court that can hear only certain kinds of cases listed in the federal statutes and constitution. Personal is a court that makes decisions binding on the person involved in a civil case.

2. The four levels of state courts are as follows: The trial court of limited jurisdiction, the trial court of general jurisdiction which hears various kinds of cases, the intermediate appellate courts with a fixed maximum and minimum term of imprisonment and only hears appeals and the state courts of last report or Supreme Court of the state.

3. Purposes of the courts include: Incapacitation which means to deprive of ability, qualification or strength, punishment to subject to pain, loss, confinement, death etc, as a penalty for some offense, transgression or fault. Another purpose is rehabilitation; this is to restore a condition of good health and ability to work. Then there is general deterrence which is to make an effort to prevent people in general from part taking in crime by punishing specific individuals and making examples of them. Lastly, to prevent citizens/ residents against arbitrary government action.

4. Prosecutors sometimes choose not to change or prosecute criminal cases for several reasons. The first is their opinion or conviction that an offense did not cause adequate/ enough harm. A second reason involves the connection between the offender of the crime/ offense and the statutory punishment. A third reason is that the law has been violated with exemption from punishment for a long period of time with little / no complaints from the public. A fourth reason has to do with the concern for or helping to improve the welfare and happiness of people. Finally, the wrongdoer/ accused is wanted for prosecution of a more grave crime in another jurisdiction.

5. There are a few stages in the criminal trial. One of them are discovery proceedings, this is where each party must disclose to the others all the relevant documents in its control relating to matters at issue in the proceedings. Defendant’s case, the person defending or denying the allegations. Governments (prosecutor) case, the legal party responsible for representing the case in a criminal trial. Closing arguments, or summation, or summing up is the concluding statement of each party’s counsel reiterating the important arguments for the fact, often the jury in a court case. Deliberations, after receiving the instructions and hearing the final arguments, the jury retires to the jury room to begin deliberating.

6. Truth in sentencing is a collection of different but related public policy[->0] stances on sentencing[->1] of those convicted of crimes[->2] in the justice system[->3]. In most contexts truth in sentencing refers to policies and legislation[->4] that aim to abolish or curb parole[->5], so that convicts serve the period that they have been sentenced to. Truth in sentencing advocates relate such policies in terms of the public's right to know[->6]; they argue, for example, that it is deceptive to sentence an individual to seven to nine years, and then release the individual after he or she has served only six years. These laws target everyone especially criminals, convicts, offenders.

7. The five major rationales that have been given for punishments imposed by the criminal courts are retribution, incapacitation, deterrence, rehabilitation and restoration and victims’ rights.

8. The five method of execution currently used in the United States include the following: lethal injection- the practice of killing someone using a lethal dose of drug. Electrocution- the practice of killing someone by electricity. Lethal gas- the practice of killing a person using a lethal dose/ deadly gas. Hanging- the suspension of a person by a binding or tying them up. Firing squad- the practice of killing a person by shooting them.

9. The three procedural reforms approved by the Supreme Court are Bifurcated trials- this is one judicial proceeding that is divided into two stages in which different issues are addressed separately by the court. It’s consisted of a guilt phase and a separate penalty phase. The next is guidelines for judges and juries, what the court found especially appealing about the guided discretion statues approved in Gregg is that judges and juries are provided with standards that presumably restrict, but do not get rid of their sentencing discretion. Finally, automatic appellate review- this is the third procedural reforms of the new death penalty statutes is automatic appellate review. At this present moment 33 of 34 states with death penalty statutes provide for automatic appellate review of all death sentences, regardless of the defendant’s wishes.

10. Reasons why the death penalty in the United States is a waning institution is because first, although abstract support for the death penalty is constantly relatively high- it was 65% at the end of 2009- it was only 1% higher than the lowest level recorded. Support for death penalty typically falls below 50% when responders are provided an alternative for example life imprisonment without having parole. Second, Americans continuously show concern about the way death penalty is being done. The public does not have believed that the death penalty is applied fairly. Thirdly, the position taken by respected organizations within the United States, such as the ABA and organized religions. Fourthly, this is a worldly opinion. In a certain country death penalty is viewed as a violation to human beings. Demonstrations protesting against the US death penalty have been held in various countries.

PART II: SCENARIO
Scenario 1:
As Peter’s friend I would advise him to get a plea bargain which is an agreement between him (the defendant) and the prosecutor whereby he agrees to plead guilty to a specific charge in return for some concession from the prosecutor. This means that he will plead guilty to a less serious charge or to one of several charges in return for a dismissal of all other charges or he can plead guilty to his original charge in return for a more lenient sentence.

Scenario 2:
Criminal lawyers deal with the law that relates to crimes and criminals. They regulate social conduct and proscribe threatening, harming or otherwise endangering the health, safety and moral welfare of people. The criminal laws come with punishment of people who violate these laws. A trial judge is a judge in a trial court. Judge is an official who prescribes over court proceedings either by themselves or with a panel of other judges. The judge conducts the trial impartially and in an open court. The judge hears all the witnesses and other evidence presented by the parties of the case, assesses the credibility and arguments of the parties, and then issues a ruling on the matter at hand based on his/her interpretation of the law and his/her own personal judgment.

Scenario 3:
Judge Reynolds jurisdiction uses determinate sentencing towards every case. Determinate sentencing is a sentence to confinement for a fixed or minimum period that is specified by statute. Determinate sentencing encompasses sentencing guidelines, mandatory minimum sentences and enhanced sentences for certain crimes. These sentencing guidelines will allow Judge Reynolds to consider Pastor Rob circumstance with the case when determining his sentence. Judge Reynolds used presumptive sentencing to also help Pastor Rob with his case. Presumptive sentencing guidelines are based on the belief that punishment should be more severe for more serious crimes and more severe for repeat offenders. Under specific mitigating circumstance Judge Reynolds can reduce the sentence by ordering a downward departure. This is how Judge Reynolds would use presumptive sentence to assist Pastor Rob.
PART III: WEEKLY JOURNAL
1. Florida appellate district meets in the following locations district 1 Tallahassee, district 2 Tampa, district 3 Miami, district 4 West Palm Beach and district 5 Daytona Beach. In 2004, Florida court of last report (Supreme Court) and Intermediate appellate court (district courts of appeals) had 7 judges and 62 judges respectively. They both had 6 years length in term. No response was made on the number of males, females, whites, black or African American, Hispanic/ Latino, Asian and others. In table 3, Florida General Jurisdiction (circuit) had 526 judges serving 6 years, there were more males than females, also, there was a huge number of whites compared to blacks/ African Americans, 33 Hispanic/ Latino and 7 ethnicity was unknown. In limited jurisdiction county the ratio between numbers were very much the same as in circuit court. There were 276 judges in the circuit, serving 6 years, 194 were males and 82 females, the males more than doubled the amount of females present. 234 were white, 24 black/ African American, 16 Hispanic/ Latino and 2 ethnicity is unknown.

2. Personally, I always favored capital punishment when it comes to a certain degree of the crime committed. Families of persons murdered, victims of rape and so on would be more than happy to see their perpetrator behind bars or even put to death in order for them to have justice and feel some of relief. I agree with guilty individuals being put to death for the gruesome crimes they tend to commit on a regular. They had a choice and they chose to hurt innocent people without any sort of remorse, either because of greed, jealousy, envy, hate, or just simply no reason at all. Some of these individuals may be psychos, yes, but that gives them no reason to take a man’s life.

[->0] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_policy
[->1] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_(law)
[->2] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime
[->3] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_system
[->4] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legislation
[->5] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parole
[->6] - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_know