By comparing total crimes per population, we concluded the population per square mile is not a factor in determining the amount of crime: York County has a population of 9.01persons per square mile and it’s a high-crime county and Lane County has a population of 13.7 persons per square mile and is also a high-crime county; on the other hand, Lake County has a population of 4528.1 persons per square mile and Lee County has a population of 5609.25 persons per square mile and they are both considered low-crime counties. Therefore, our metric using total crimes, instead of a breakdown of individual categories of crimes and population provide the best methodology to identify and classify the levels of crime levels in the counties of…
In 2008 there was a minor 3% decrease in the juvenile arrest rate in comparison to the 2007 arrest rate that was recorded in 2007. There was a trend decrease in a number of violent crimes for 2006 and 2008, such as forcible rape, murder, robbery, non-negligent manslaughter,…
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.…
The homicide rates in Canada have been steadily dropping over the past decades, namely, a trend has been noted since the 1990‘s. Although there is a rapidly fluctuating population that can sometimes alter homicide statistics, an overall trend has been significantly noted.There have been various reasons suggested for why these rates are steadily dropping. I will start this post by giving a few statistics on the declining homicide…
Rough Draft Fifty-five years without possibility of parole. That is what Weldon Angelos is facing for selling a total of $350 worth of marijuana, and carrying a firearm; even though, he has no criminal history and never fired the gun. This is all due to laws called mandatory minimum sentences (MMS); which are sentences that are determined by the weight of the drugs or the presence of a firearm during a felony offense. They are called mandatory because judges are forced to impose these sentences based solely on the amount of drug present without any leniency. The mandatory minimum prison sentences are a controversial way to fight the “War on Drugs” that have a conflicted history and have drastically increased prison populations and costs.…
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…
This information is available to us because of programs designed to track the rate crimes increase in comparison to a component of the population. The crime rates are guidelines that help us manage the potential increase in future crimes and help us devise a system that is prepared to deal with the complications they pose to our society. There are three programs commonly used to establish crime rates.…
Generally, the America public doesn't know what factors go into a judge’s decision when sentencing offenders. Keep in mind, judges have life experiences before becoming a judge such as how they were raised as an individual. Furthermore, they could have had experience with a particular crime, either a family member or someone close to them and personal feeling toward the offender. Yet, judges still have human tendencies but have to abide by some guidelines to determine their sentencing.…
Sandy Camel Consulting understands the need for investigating relationships between violent crime rates and the possible underlying causes. As a policy maker who wishes to promote rehabilitation (for nonviolent offenders) while effectively reducing the number of prisons and penitentiaries , it is essential to understand what possible factors influence violent crimes. Before you take steps to reduce prison funding and attempt to eliminate higher security facilities, it is absolutely necessary to ensure that the population within the surrounding city is not at risk for high violent crime rates. Before we…
Prison overcrowding is one of America's most serious criminal justice issues. The problem is because of insufficient jail and prison space, for which the solution is to build more jail and prison facilities. According to a 2008 study by the Pew Center on the States, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with one in 100 Americans under the supervision of the criminal justice system. Mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes are a key factor in the high rate of incarceration.…
This movie brought about a sobering reality of both families who have been affected by drugs, and the offenders behind bars for drug offenses. Yet I was somewhat disturbed by the small-town marshal in Magdalena New Mexico, Larry Curly who seemed to have a troublesome viewpoint towards police profiling. He called it “fishing” and blatantly admitted he was illegally profiling possible suspects who may be involved in drug trafficking. He denoted that all cops are phony and that they certainly profile individuals by their car and physicality. Yet he also stated that he tries to portray himself as a hero with “his white and and piece of silver.” I feel like this cop is a disgrace to the Criminal Justice system, for he contradicts himself. Yet it's important to mention he had one thing right by admitting how in-genuine him and other officers…
My last and final argument just will bring the homicide rates a lot lower because if you make the death penalty legal in Canada. All the heinous people who would want to or think about committing this heinous crime will shiver with fear because they will know that the justice system has no sympathy for them. For example if you were a person who would want to murder someone you will definitely think what your punishment would be if you got caught which in 90% of the cases you do. If you were in your 20s or even 30s you wouldn't worry very much about the punishment since it will be only 25 years which is certainly not reasonable for murder and is a very low number of years to serve in prison for such a capital and serious crime. But if you knew that if you commit murder you will receive a capital punishment of death penalty you would think a 100 times before you do it because if you get caught will…
The largest areas of culturally diverse societies consist within the 5 major metropolitan cites of Canada which are, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary (Mercer, 1995, 174). Most crimes occur in these large metropolitan cities, where many cultures are mixed within the large communities. As a result of many of the large Canadian cities being home to a majority group of people from a distinct array of ethnic identities, patterns of crime are often quite similar. For example, statistics have shown a large population of at risk black youth in the City of Toronto often indicted for street crimes. Or, the City of Vancouver, where the Asian youth gang phenomenon is at large (Mercer, 1995, 181). It is very important that the police forces in these communities represent or to the least have knowledge and sensitivity of these ethnic groups. Many of these at risk youth are either immigrants or first generation Canadians; therefore the police must be able to service them with the sensitivity of their background. Although, there have been efforts to diversify Canadian police there is still much work to be done. According to Geoffrey Li, the Law Commission of Canada has noticed through census statistics that: “in spite of concerted efforts to increase diversity in police services in Canada, women, members of visible and ethnic minority groups, as well as Aboriginal peoples, remain significantly underrepresented, compared to their representation in the communities being policed"(Li, 2008, 6). The enforcement and motivation for a more diverse police force is extremely important as the face of Canadian society is becoming less predominantly white males and more women, ethnic minorities, and Aboriginal, fueling the…
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…