Criminal Sentencing Decisions within the American Judicial System Abstract A major issue in criminal justice is sentencing. America’s court system has struggled to balance competing goals and policies in regards to criminal sentencing. This paper explores the ideas behind changes made to the sentencing policies with the United States judicial system. It begins with an overview of the goals behind criminal sentencing. This paper concludes with a discussion on the current status and disparities
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Sentencing Paper CJA/234 May 26‚ 2010 Sentencing Paper When a person has plead guilty or is found to be guilty of a crime the judge determines their sentence. Sentencing is imposing a criminal sanction by a judicial authority (Seiter‚ 2011). Every year there are thousands of criminals that are sentenced for their crimes. Sentencing is an important process in the criminal justice system. It is the result of punishment from the courts. There are different reasons for
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The Deterrence Theory Deterrence of a crime is based on choice theory‚ which is the assumption that a person is making a conscious decision to commit a criminal act. Since the person is making a conscious effort to commit the crime‚ deterrence is meant to reflect the punishment for the crime based on that decision. In computer crime‚ since most computer users are aware of what constitutes as an illegal act (e.g. downloading music without paying for it)‚ the assumption is that most people know when
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My theory for the reasoning of punishment has two main goals which are to provide justice for the victims and a lesson to the convicted. When a judge sits in preparation to initiate sentencing they have to go through numerous thought processes because of the uniqueness of every case. Considerations such as what are they trying to accomplish with the punishment and who would benefit from such a sentence. General factors like the age of the convicted and the heinousness of the crime committed matters
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What are the state and federal objectives of punishment? Punishment can be broke down into four fundamental objectives. These objectives are deterrence‚ retribution‚ rehabilitation‚ and incapacitation. The first is deterrence; this is where people are discouraged from committing crimes. This can be broken down into two subcategories; specific and general. Specific is aimed at offender do not want to commit a crime because of the punishment received the last time they were caught. General
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The role of sentencing plays an integral part in the criminal justice system process because it is how criminals are punished. And by punishing the criminals sentencing serves two ultimate purposes. Those purposes are: “deserved infliction of suffering on evildoers” and “the prevention of crime” (Professor Herbert Packer‚ 2006 Criminal Justice in Action: The Core). Sentencing effects society today because if there were no sentencing in the criminal justice system‚ then all of the criminals would
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Sentencing is an important aspect in the criminal justice process. It is the punishment defendants receive when they are convicted of a crime. The punishment spectrum is wide and vast‚ ranging from probation to death. Punishment and sentencing present some of the most complex issues of the criminal justice system. There are four main philosophical reasons surrounding the purpose of sentencing; they are retribution‚ deterrence‚ incapacitation and rehabilitation. Retribution is the philosophy
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The five traditional goals of punishment are the following retribution‚ deterrence‚ rehabilitation‚ restoration and incapacitation. Each of these punishments reflects features of criminal punishment. In the retribution goal the punishment is imposed by a sentencing judge. It is intentionally given as way to get back at the offender and offer some closure to the victim. The offender is given notice and an attorney is made available. The punishment to the offense is thought to be equal to the offense
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Philosophies of Punishment: Retribution David A. Gonzales California State University‚ Fullerton According to the book‚ Criminal Law and Punishment‚ written by Joel Samaha‚ the characteristics of punishment include pain or unpleasant consequences‚ punishment prescribed by the law‚ punishment administered intentionally and punishment administered by the state (Samaha 22). The two sole purposes of punishment are prevention and retribution. The five philosophies of punishment
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Rehabilitation should be a goal of the criminal justice system Name: Course: College: Tutor: Date: TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0Introduction 2 2.0 Rehabilitation as a means of upholding criminal justice 3 3.0Effectiveness of rehabilitation 4 4.0 Ineffectiveness of rehabilitation 11 5.0Conclusion 17 6.0References 18 1.0 Introduction Criminal justice deals with mitigation of crimes‚ upholding social
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