Prison Term Proposal

Running Head: PRISON TERM POLICY RECOMMENDATION PROPOSAL 1

Steven Schultz
CJA/ 314
October 21, 2014
Anita Gopaul- Alexander

PRISON TERM POLICY RECOMMENDATION PROPOSAL 2
Prison Term Policy Recommendation Proposal
I am a criminologist advisor to a member of the state legislature. There will be a bill, that will be voted on and if passed it will double the maximum prison term for anyone convicted of armed robbery. My boss and other members of the legislature knows that this is a popular bill, but most question that if it would even do any good. I will advise to you any recommendations, reasons, how effective it could be and if it is a good bill overall.
As you know the state legislature will be voting on a bill that will double the maximum prison time for an individual convicted of armed robbery. The reason for this proposal is too help give different insight and solutions that may help the state legislation members see other solutions that may be more beneficial or effective. I have decided to examine what the new bill’s possibilities are and if there is even need to fix what is already in place. The "Legal Dictionary" (2014) website, robbery is the direct taking of property (including money) from a person (victim) through force, threat or intimidation. Robbery is a felony (crime punishable by a term in state or federal prison). "Armed robbery" involves the use of a gun or other weapon which can do bodily harm, such as a knife or club, and under most state laws carries a stiffer penalty (longer possible term) than robbery by merely taking. Armed robbery is a very serious crime and it is considered a felony.
When attempting to make a recommendation for this possible bill to double the prison sentence for armed robbery we must look at to where the rates where in the past in comparison to the present. There was an estimated 354,520 robberies that included armed robberies nationwide
PRISON TERM POLICY RECOMMENDATION PROPOSAL 3 according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program in 2012. That is a considerably high amount even when we look at a 0.1 percent drop in robberies since 2011. You might ask yourself nothing really has changed? Consider if we look into the past a little further, 2008 and 2012 there has been a staggering 20.1 percent decrease in robberies. In addition to it really not rising much and pretty much lowering as the years pass no matter how big or small, we must ask ourselves if this bill even needs to be passed. The most important recommendation that I can offer is to venture out into the public areas that have the increased crime rates and provide more law enforcement officers to patrol those areas. The increased amount of law enforcement officers can give a deterrence and also make the citizens of that community feel more secure. A second recommendation that I can offer would be instead of automatically doubling the prison sentence, instead just increase it by one, two, three or four years depending on the severity of the crime. Additionally due to overcrowding in our prisons as it is, if this bill is passed the inmate population will increase significantly. When the increase of the inmate population reaches a certain level there will obviously be a need to build more jails and prisons to house these criminals. There is always strong debates that arise when a jail or prison is going to be built because no neighborhood or community wants this type of facility near their place of home and it could cost millions if not billions in tax dollars. The reality is that no matter what we would do or new idea that we would try there will always be crime. The last recommendation that I want to offer is to look at the expenses. Lets minus the expenses that it will cost to build such facility, but consider the expenses to house, feed, clothe, and provide medical services to these inmates will affect
PRISON TERM POLICY RECOMMENDATION PROPOSAL 4 everyone from taxpayers to the communities. With the current conditions of our economy rising the taxes of the community is not the answer. The people of the legislature must realize what the community wants and do what is in their best interest.
Overall this bill does have some good ideas to help fight crime and possibly keep it down; I think that all factors need to be examined and reasoned out. The biggest factor will be making sure the communities will not be affected. I believe that because crime rates of armed robbery have shown a decrease without the raising of the penalty, the state legislature should not waste the time and money by brining into factor a new bill that may possibly not work. This state legislature needs to realize and really think about this bill, and decide for themselves whether the benefits “if any” outweigh the cost. You probably have heard it before “If something is not broken, then don't fix it.”

PRISON TERM POLICY RECOMMENDATION PROPOSAL 5
References

Legal Dictionary. (2014). Retrieved from http://dictionary.law.com/Default.aspx?selected=1868

FBI-Uniform Crime Reports. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-

in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/violent-crime/robbery