Prison Term Policy Research Paper

Prison Term Policy Recommendation

Prison Term Policy Recommendation
In this paper I will provide a recommendation concerning the issue of a bill that would double the maximum prison term for anyone convicted of armed robbery. I will also address the reasoning behind my recommendations concerning the matter.

Regardless of how many voters are for or against a bill does not mean that it should become a policy. Many people would believe that this bill if passed would be for a greater cause or for the greater good. I think that the bill should be looked into a bit differently in order to see if there are some better solutions for people convicted of armed robbery.
With the bill being in question I think we have to review what the bill will
ensure and whether or not we should even consider “fixing something that is not broke”. Crime is committed everywhere regardless of location however some areas are more prone to crime while others have a very low crime rate but we have to look at armed robbery closely and compare when and where it came from and where the crime is heading today.
If we were to do this research it may allow us to come up with secondary solutions that may help control the situation and have better and more successful outcomes.
The Uniform Crime Report (UCR) defines the crime of armed robbery as “An aggravated form of robbery in which the defendant is armed with a dangerous weapon, though it is not necessary to prove that he used the weapon to effectuate the robbery. The taking of property from person or presence of another by use of force or by threatening use of force while armed with a dangerous weapon”
In the old days those convicted of robbery or armed robbery could receive the death penalty. Capital punishment was big in the old days and was popular up until about the early to late 1960s, in that time there were 10 states that used death as a form of punishment for robbery. Between 1930 and 1963, there were a total of about 24 people that were executed for robbery.
The death penalty is no longer available as an option for punishment today, however “if someone is killed in the commission of a robbery then the suspect can be sentenced and receive the death penalty on felony murder.”(Law, Jrank,
2008)
Since laws are constantly changing as well as the people we need to be aware of the situations that may cause crime to be higher in a particular area as opposed to another. We need to take a look at the crime rates from the past as well as the present and need to try to determine what caused the crime rate to go down and start from there.
If we were to just simply pass a bill without doing as much research as possible the end result may not be completely positive or successful they can also become negative and create more problems in the long run and then you will be back at square one. Then you would have to try to fix the additional problems it may have caused as well as the original problem you were trying to resolve first.
A recommendation that I would suggest is that law enforcement personnel should go out into the communities that have high crime rates in order to make that area more secure. If there are more patrols and more officers on those patrols people will take notice and will talk not only that their presence alone will be a deterrent. In most cases if a security officer/guard or police are in a specific area those criminals that were planning or thinking of committing a crime will often abort.
They may in fact choose another area however it will allow the community to reduce the crime rate as well as help the people feel safe to some extent. I also feel that for the most part there should be more programs out there for our youth even if they are in bad areas because I think that is part of the problem as well. Kids have nothing to do so they hang out with the wrong people and sometimes just act out due to boredom. They may even do it for the “rush” of it or the thought of quick easy money.
I honestly do not think that we need tougher sentences on armed robbery since it seems like the rate has decreased over the years. I feel that we need to enforce sentencing and mandatory minimal requirements for other crimes that are increasing like rape, murder, driving under the influence (DUIs) depending on the situation some sentences for these crimes could even be probation in my opinion that lets the suspect/offender know that it is forgivable that they made a mistake.
In my opinion people just look at it as a bill that will help enforce sentencing and help the community and things like that however, we all should be looking at the costs that are associated with the justice system that citizens would/ will be responsible for such as medical, housing, food, transportation to hearings and things like that. Yes they may get longer sentences but we will get hit hard financially as well.
I see it as a downward spiral that would have a very hard time recovering from if we even could. The situation is if we pass the bill those who are convicted will receive longer sentences which means they will be in jail or prison for longer periods of time. That will then cost us more money because the jails/prisons will become even more populated causing us to need to build more jails and prisons as well as hire more officers to enforce the institutions.
I think that we need to weigh the pros and cons when it comes to almost any kind of bill just for that reason because people most often just look at the small picture and focus on the “Now” when we all need to look at the larger picture and compare the now as well as the future.
I understand the need for the government to show effort that they will not tolerate crime. I understand that the government often wants to make an impression on the public because after all if you cannot satisfy the public you lose votes come election time, that is just politics but at what cost are we willing to enact something to make a point to the people?
I believe that everyone who has a normal way of life without crime is all for harsher punishments and penalties for those who take what they want knowing they have not Earned anything and choose not to do so. In a different point of view for example if someone has been a victim of armed robbery they have had something taken from them forcefully.
So if we were to pass this bill it will lead to more costs in order to house the inmates longer, feed them , provide medical, and build new jails and prisons because of overcrowding it is eventually going to seem like they are being victimized again because all of us including the victims will be paying for it with
taxes.
In my opinion it is almost the same thing armed robbery because the government takes taxes by force because if you do not pay you can go to jail or prison. I believe that there will always be those actions or ideas that seem perfect at first until you take a deeper look and compare the pros and cons of our actions as well as our government’s actions.
In closing I agree that we need to keep brainstorming our thoughts and ideas on how we can provide the right punishment for those convicted of crimes however, we all need to look at a much bigger picture as well as the future. We need to evaluate the pros and cons of our actions including the financial responsibility that comes with us making decisions.
Every decision we make can or may have the best intentions in mind but most people seem to live in the “Now” factor and forget to look at the long term effect. Everything we do and every choice we make has some kind of financial impact on all of use and sometimes we do not even know it.
We all need to take a closer look and look deeper when it comes to ideas and thoughts because it may seem like a great solution at the time but later it may be realized that it was great solution for a temporary basis and may cause more problems.

Reference
Robbery-The History Of Robbery (2011) retrieved March 21, 2011 from http://law.jrank.org/pages/1984/Robbery-history-robbery.html