Punishment and Sentencing

Assignment: The Effects of Punishment and Sentencing

The criminal justice system was created as a way to establish order in society and uphold current and future laws of the United States of America. This order can be described as a set of rules that must be abided by and when offended against the violator must face consequences or punishment. In today’s society these offenders are more likely to spend time in the penal system depending on the offense (s) when sentenced in court. The sentencing process is extremely vast, and can range from probation to death.

The fundamental philosophies surrounding the purpose of sentencing are devoted to process crime and punishments of the guilty. Through these philosophies there are some people that believe the purpose of sentencing the guilty will prove justice to society. On the other hand, others believe in the famous quote “You do the crime, you do the time”. There are four different reasons that society believes in when sentencing the offending, these are retribution, deterrence, incapacitation and rehabilitation (http://associatedcontent.com/article/2076777/the_effects_of_punishment_and _sentencing.html).

Retribution prejudges that the perpetrator knowingly made a conscience decision to commit a repeated offense and as a result, should receive deserved adequate punishment. In a sense, society believes by establishing standards of sentencing for variations of crimes will prove to if not eliminate certainly decrease the same types of crimes from recurring called deterrence. This is to include incapacitations, segregating the guilty in facilities made specifically for this purpose. This gives the hopes that the offending can be reformed or rehabilitated. Rehabilitation is a form of starting off new with a person in order to assess, educate and allow the possibility of release back in to society with the hope that the person can start over and live by the laws of the land... [continues]

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