Preview

Sexual Offenders Pros And Cons

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2270 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Sexual Offenders Pros And Cons
The new Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act (2003) In Queensland permits prisoners to be kept in prison beyond their release date where a court finds that there is a ‘high degree of probability' that they represent a ‘serious danger to the community'. Other jurisdictions have enacted similar legislation to restrict the release of prisoners assessed to be dangerous. Do you think that dangerousness legislation of this sort is justified or unjustified?

Several states across the Country have enacted or attempted to enact legislation which can enable detention of a prisoner past his/her release date. This type of legislation's general purpose is to provide a mechanism whereby prisoners who, if released pose an unacceptable risk of committing
…show more content…
This essay further aims to explore the moral and practical implications of such sentencing provisions and the impact it has on the whole Justice System. The writer will also address the conflicting goals of Corrections and the purpose and impact of indefinite sentencing while exploring the justifications against such legislation. This essay also aims to show that even though we may feel disgust for these types of offences we must remember the fundamentals of the Criminal Law system and understand that people are entitled to equality and fairness in the eyes of the …show more content…
The underlying principle of this theory is that offenders should only be sentenced for crimes that they have committed, not for prospective crimes. Indefinite sentencing also poses problems with parity in sentencing. Two offenders with similar offences could have remarkably different sentences in the end, based upon their behaviour whilst being detained (Wortley and Smallbone,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    This is one of the major effects of mandatory minimum sentencing in that it limits judicial discretion of the most serious crimes in the criminal justice system. What is problematic in this instance is that without variation the role of judges, their highly respected reasoning in balancing competing values, and understanding of the law is compromised because of these restrictions in sentencing. Has this discretion completely vanished? Athar Malik explains that as a result, “what little discretion remains in the hands of the judge, now gives the Crown an inordinate amount of power.” Mandatory minimum sentencing may also increase the pressure to plead guilty, whereby the discretion wielded by the Crown is “hidden from public view” which in turn may reduce accountability and allow systemic discrimination to be perpetuated. Hence, mandatory minimums distort the role of the prosecutor, turning him from an advocate into a quasi-judge and this is neither desirable nor appropriate in our judicial system. This is problematic as this limits taking into account varying aggravating and mitigating factors unique to each case. Consequently, with the imposition of mandatory minimum sentencing, judges have become accustomed to imposing prison terms as the norm and with the passage of time there will be fewer judges who will adopt a…

    • 1521 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    From the beginning of time, society has not always accepted that the punishment fits the crime. There is always uncertainty and bitterness with the belief that the punishment has been too harsh or too lenient.…

    • 983 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In this paper the topics that will be discussed will be what are the state and federal objectives of punishment? How does sentencing affect the state and federal corrections systems overall? With support for that answer, what is the determinate and indeterminate sentencing? As well as which sentencing model that is felt the most appropriate? With an explanation as to why and examples will be provided.…

    • 992 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    In addition, the principles of sentencing established by common law and legislation must be applied in each case including the principle that imprisonment is only enforced when no other punishment is appropriate, the punishment must fit the crime and similar crimes should receive similar sentences. Introducing mandatory consistent sentencing standards would conflict with the judge’s ability to oversee specific circumstances of a case and to enforce a just…

    • 1488 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Prison Service encompasses three central aims; holding prisoners securely, decrease risk of offending and lastly offer safe, well-ordered institutions in which prisoners are treated humanely, decently and lawfully (Cavadino and Dignan, 2007, p.193). When the state incarcerates, it must accept accountability for the basic care of those it detains. Although prisoners should not expect luxuries during their time of incarceration, they should not be deprived of the basic goods and comforts of life. Certification of access to enough goods should be available to help them develop as the citizens expected to be. Lord Justice Woolf (1991) claimed three necessities for the prison system to maintain steadiness: security, control and justice. In terms…

    • 247 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Section 1. Persons convicted of committing violent crimes shall serve no less than full and complete sentences. Credit may be given only for actual time served. Time served shall be counted…

    • 3693 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Powerful 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
  • Good Essays

    Even though incarceration should be about rehabilitating prisoners and releasing them back into society as productive members, unfortunately it has become about politics. Those running for office always want to appear to be tough on crime, and indeterminate sentencing appears to some to be too soft. Allowing prisoners to earn their freedom before they have served their maximum sentence is not punishment in the eyes of those that believe prisoners should be locked up and made to do hard…

    • 825 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Keeping labeling theory in mind, does sex registration (of convicted sex offenders) serve the public interests, and or does this labeling process do more harm than good? Pls fully explain and defend your views.…

    • 969 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first Congress divided the nation into districts and created federal courts for each district. Our present structure evolved from that: the Supreme Court, 13 courts of appeals, 94 district courts, and two courts of special jurisdiction. Congress today retains the power to create and abolish federal courts, and to determine number of judges in federal judiciary system. Second, the civil-commitment statute before us constitutes a modest addition to a set of federal prison-related mental-health statutes that have existed for many decades. We recognize that even a longstanding history of related federal action does not demonstrate a statute 's constitutionality. A history of involvement, however, can nonetheless be helpful in reviewing the substance of a congressional statutory scheme and, in particular, the reasonableness of the relation between the new statute and pre-existing federal interests.Third, Congress reasonably extended its longstanding civil-commitment system to covermentally ill and sexually dangerous persons who are already in federal custody, even if doing sodetains them beyond the termination of their criminal sentence. For one thing, the FederalGovernment is the custodian of its prisoners. As federal custodian, it has the constitutional powerto act in order to protect nearby (and other) communities from the danger federal prisoners maypose. In operating an institution such as (a prison…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Goals Of Sentencing

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages

    For instance, retribution is focused on retaliation; and is not particularly concerned with mitigating future crime. In contrast, deterrence is focused on preventing future crime, but its effectiveness as a general deterrence remains unproven. Likewise, rehabilitation is aimed at preventing future crime, but historically, it has failed to mitigate crime rates. On the other hand, incapacitation seeks to deprive the offender of his ability to commit future crimes, but, suggests, that offenders are incorrigible. The aforementioned sentencing goals are related to distinct sentencing models. These include determinate sentencing, where “state statues determine the length of incarceration” (Zhang, et al, 2014, 694); and indeterminate sentencing, which sets a range of time of confinement, which is dependent of the offenders conduct while incarcerated. Sentencing models are usually accompanied concurrent and or consecutive sentences. Under concurrent sentences, and offender serves a prescribed amount of time of confinement for multiple crimes committed together. In contrast, consecutive sentences require offenders to serve jail sentences for each crime separately, one after the…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Convicted felons can be punished in many different ways, but one thing is sure it would not be cruel and unusual. Before we look at how we punish offenders we must first understand why we are punishing them. The general purpose behind punishment is to inflict upon criminals some kind of suffering for the crime that they have committed or to protect society from those considered too dangerous to live amongst us. Punishment, a necessary evil, is sometimes required to deter law violators from repeating their crime and to serve as an example to others who would also violate the law. Schmalleger, Frank J. Criminal Justice Today An Introductory Text for the 21st Century (81).…

    • 900 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Incarceration

    • 663 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In today’s society, mischievous actions are often looked down upon and on occasions are subject to confinement to protect others from detriment. Individuals that commit offenses that are punishable my law may be sentenced to a place confinement such as jails, prisons, detention facilities, etc. People who are assigned to serve sentences in these facilities are seen as a danger to others and are best in captivity until these behaviors become either close or completely obsolete. The logic behind this is that a person guilty of a crime will learn over a certain time and mentally break oneself down. Another reason may be that ones offense is so sever that they will have to spend the rest of ones life in incarceration or pay with death. Overall incarceration is meant to be a punishment in order to prevent future activity that breaks what is considered as peace in society.…

    • 663 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Are Prisons too Lenient

    • 710 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Also we could address this problem through the use of lengthening sentences of prisoners whose sentence has been deemed “unlawfully lenient” by the court. This however will only happen if the whole court deems the sentence “unlawfully lenient” also the crime must reach certain conditions and must be done within 28 days of the trial. This is done by the Crown Prosecutor Service who goes through a process in considering whether a sentence was too lenient or was just.…

    • 710 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Pretrial Detention

    • 2311 Words
    • 10 Pages

    When a crime is allegedly committed an individual can be taken into custody, after the arraignment which is the formal reading of a criminal complaint in the presence of the defandant to inform the defendant of the charges against him or her. In response to arraignment, the accused criminal is then excepted to enter a plea. Then the accused may not be able to post bail/bond or even be denied realase. This indvidual must stay in jail until his court hearing, the time the person waits in jail is called pretrial detention. Today throughout the world pretrial detention has caused many issues in which this paper will look further into. Some of the issues that will be explored in this paper are how pretrial detention is causing overcrowded prisons, and how that is affecting our society. Another issue that will be looked upon is the expression “innocent until proven guilty”. There are times when a offender waits in jail until his hearing for a number of years and ends up being proved innocent. What should be done for the time lost in this person’s life for waiting in a jail cell for a crime that was never committed? These are issues that concern everyone in our society; this paper will explain possible ways to bring justice to these individuals. Pretrial detention causes all types of issues from the positive and negative effects it takes on people, overcrowded prisons, and weather or not it violates certain amendments.…

    • 2311 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays