Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

The Reason Behind Criminal Sentencing

Satisfactory Essays
402 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Reason Behind Criminal Sentencing
The Reasons behind Criminal Sentencing
Karen Moses
CRJ301: Juvenile Justice
Instructor: Timothy Koester
08/30/2010

When someone commits a crime and they are caught and convicted they receive some type of punishment through the process of sentencing. The three main reasons for criminal sentencing are punishment, crime reduction and reparation. Some types of sentencing may contain things to help with deterrence, rehabilitation, incapacitation and retribution of the convicted criminal. When someone is found guilty of committing a crime a court of law must decide what the punishment will be. The eighth amendment to our constitution prevents some one from receiving “cruel or unusual punishment” which means that someone found guilty of robbery can not receive the death penalty or that the punishment must fit the crime. Punishment may come in the form of serving time in a jail or prison. The length of time will depend on the type of crime committed and how serious the offense was. Someone who deprives another person of property is not going to receive the same amount of time as someone who intentionally kills someone. A convicted criminal may also be subjected to probation or some other types of things as part of being released out into society again. These are meant as a type of prevention tool to help a criminal not reoffend in the future. When people who are convicted of crimes receive some type of punishment it is hoped that it will reduce the rate of crime in an area or city. It is assumed that when others see and hear about a person being punished for doing a crime they might stop and think before they commit a crime themselves. Punishment can also come in the form of reparation which is often in the form of money being paid by the criminal to the victim. In certain cases community service can be imposed on a criminal in place of money or jail time or can be added as part of a way to be released early. When it comes to deterrence there are two types specific and general. Specific deterrence is meant to scare the offender enough to prevent them from committing crime in the future. General deterrence is meant to scare society by teaching them a lesson and showing those in society what can and will happen if you commit a crime.

http://www.uslaw.com/us_law_article.php?a=249

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Wk 8 Ccj220 Essay Example

    • 439 Words
    • 2 Pages

    how the offenders in favor of retribution and incarceration. There can be many ways in how it…

    • 439 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    To obtain energy needed for life, organisms depend on the processes of cellular respiration and photosynthesis. Though they share the same function of changing energy from one form to another, there are many differences between cellular respiration and photosynthesis in regard to the input and output molecules, energetics, cellular location, and ecological importance.…

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sentences for crimes committed have been handed down for as long as there have been crimes to commit. There are many factors to be considered by the judge tasked with sentencing in a criminal case, including an offender’s criminal history and actual involvement in the commission of the offense. First-time offenders may be grated leniency in sentencing, but it can be argued that such a practice is contrary to the nature of punishment and detracts from the effects of the crime on the victims. Punishment serves three general purposes that serve to benefit the victim, the public, and the offender: retribution, prevention, and rehabilitation.…

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Cjs 230

    • 260 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Punishment is the infliction of an unpleasant or negative experience on an offender in response to an offense. Today, punishment includes rehabilitation, deterrence, retribution, incapacitation, and reparation. Punishment is a penalty that results as a rule or law violation. Once a criminal has been punished through physical or economic sanctions then the criminal is considered square with his victim along with society.…

    • 260 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cja/234 Sentencing Paper

    • 1495 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Earlier responses to crime were to be brutal, which included torture, humiliation, mutilation, and branding. These kinds of punishments often attempted to relate the punishment to the crime, as close as possible. The first response to crime incorporated linking criminal acts to sin and developing strict punishments. Throughout the years, this thought process has changed into a more humane system. The reason for corrections to is to protect the society but also to provide rehabilitation to these individuals. Punishments for criminals now include main objectives that widely differ from the first believed aspects of punishments. Punishments now embrace objectives pertaining to deterrence, incarceration, rehabilitation, retribution and restitution.…

    • 1495 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The criminal justice system has many objectives which it intends to achieve through various punishments. One such objective is to deter social deviants by threatening them with the possibility of facing harsh punishment to pay for their crimes (Ferris & Stein, 2016). The criminal justice system also achieves retribution by responding to crime by retaliating or revenging the crime. The criminal justice system also incapacitates social deviants so as to protect members of the society through imprisonment or execution in some cases. Additionally, the system also intends to rehabilitate criminals so as to encourage them to refrain from socially deviant…

    • 1239 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Sentencing Paper

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages

    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.…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    A member of such a society based on character, scholarship and leadership is one who can demonstrate these three tasks in their everyday lives. The ease of maintaining a balanced schedule whilst also upholding these characteristics may not be the simplest of tasks at times, even for the best students, although the drive to strive for this essence sets individuals apart from the majority. I believe that in my everyday life, I demonstrate these ideals and would heartily enjoy guiding others in them. To be exercise any of these qualities requires one’s own desire, a desire which I not only try to instill into myself, but into others as well. Being part of the National Honor Society would not only be an honor in and of itself, but an honor which is able to transcend its membership and let a person such as myself try to better the school, town, and familial communities by doing good in each of them.…

    • 972 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Philosophy Of Sentencing

    • 851 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The complexities of human nature, emotions, thought, morals and ethics have been debated for centuries, and the dilemma of sentencing another human to a form of corporal punishment, incarceration or death, requires a firm foundation in the laws of the land, tempered by years of study and dedication to the law one has sworn to uphold. The several reasons for sentencing of a crime is: Revenge, for an actual or perceived need for vengeance on a violation, usually one that is very personal and emotional in nature. Incapacitation, which is to prevent the criminal from repeating crimes against society by placing them into a correctional facility on a long term or permanent basis. Restoration, is a form of sentencing when the convening authority is attempting to protect the victims by helping them to feel safe and secure. Deterrence is a sentence where the courts attempt to prevent the subject of a crime from offending again. Retribution, which is probably the oldest reason for sentencing was utilized for equal punishment to the crime, drawing from the old adage “eye for an eye”. Lastly is the sentence of rehabilitation, which in societies modern view, the ideal and preferred sentence,…

    • 851 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Indeterminate Sentencing

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Sentencing is and has long been a crucial phase within the criminal justice process. Sentencing is what occurs post-conviction following an offender’s guilty plea or a trial by jury in which the offender is found guilty. The philosophy of sentencing is that of punishment for a crime committed. This punishment can include incarceration, rehabilitation, probation, fines, and community service. In order to prevent crime from occurring or re-occurring, a deterrent such as incarceration must exist.…

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Sentencing Paper

    • 2161 Words
    • 9 Pages

    There are various forms of sentencing that are used in the criminal justice system and each has its’ own rationale. These include but are not limited to the death penalty, incarceration, suspended sentence, probation, and restitution. The death penalty must be requested by the prosecutor and in some rare cases the defense. The death penalty can also be recommended by a jury, however only specific crimes are eligible for the death penalty. Most states require a certain number of witnesses in order to qualify the defendant for the death penalty. These crimes vary from state to state and include aggravated rape of a victim under 14 (including repeat offenses), espionage, piracy, ransom kidnapping, treason, and most commonly aggravated first degree murder. Incarceration is another popular form of sentencing. Although jail and prison are often used interchangeably, they differ. A prison sentence is typically longer and for those who commit felonies. A jail sentence is shorter and for those who commit misdemeanors, who are awaiting trial, or waiting to be transferred to a state facility. The ideology behind prisons is easy to recognize. We follow prisons in every…

    • 2161 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Determinate Sentencing

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The purpose of sentencing: the “deserved infliction of suffering on evildoers and “the prevention of crime.” There four fundamental philosophies surrounding the purpose of sentencing. First, the oldest and most common is retribution. Retribution is the philosophy that those who commit criminal acts should be punished based on the severity of the crime and that no other factors need be considered. The second philosophy is deterrence. In deterrence, the goal of sentencing is to prevent future crimes. Deterrence takes a general and specific form. General deterrence is that by punishing one person, others will be dissuaded from committing a similar crime. Specific deterrence assumes thart an individual, after being punished once for a certain act,…

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Goals Of Sentencing

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The sentencing phase of the criminal justice process is where a guilty offender is sanctioned for his conduct. The goals of sentencing include retribution, rehabilitation, deterrence, and incapacitation. Historically the primary goal has varied by criminal justice era and the crime committed. However, each sentencing goal has a specific purpose (Masters, et al., 2017). The sentencing goal of retribution is normally pursued in heinous crime cases. Its aim is to castigate the offender. In contrast, rehabilitation is a sentencing goal that seeks to correct offender conduct, by teaching offenders, skills that aid in the prevention of recidivism. On the other hand, the sentencing goal of deterrence seeks to discourage future criminality by way of…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    State and federal

    • 1213 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Sentencing has four major goals that are normally attributed to it: deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and retribution. Retribution is from the 21 centuries model of “just deserts.” The main idea is that if someone breaks the law they should be punished. The other three uses more emphasize on protecting the public. The way they go about is how they differ. Deterrence focuses on the burdensome aspect of a punishment. This makes the offender think about what he or she is, has, or is about to do. This is to make a rational thought that the chance of getting caught is too high, not worth the risk. The idea is to make the person (specific deterrence) who may commit the crime so afraid of the punishment, and detour others (general deterrence) from committing the same crime.…

    • 1213 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sentencing Philosophies

    • 353 Words
    • 1 Page

    The four fundamental philosophies surrounding the purpose of sentencing are; retribution, this philosophy is the belief that those who commit criminal acts should be punished according to the seriousness of the crime and that no other circumstances are considered, deterrence, this strategy is the thought that if the punishment given is severe enough that it will stop the potential criminal from committing the crime or to be a repeat offender. Incapacitate is the third philosophy that is a belief that if the criminal is detained for a crime, thereby being separated from the community reduces the criminal activity and once released will not be as likely to be a repeat offender. Rehabilitation is the fourth and final philosophy that surrounds the purpose of sentencing, some believe that society is best served when those who break the law are not simply punished but are provided with resources needed to eliminate the need or want to engage in criminal…

    • 353 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays