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The effectiveness of the youth justice system
The effectiveness of the youth justice system
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Ewing had been convicted of both burglary and robbery approximately seven years before the crime that gave rise to this appeal. When he stole the golf clubs, he was still on parole following his release from prison related to those two felony convictions. Following his conviction in this case, the trial judge declined to exercise discretion and convict Ewing of a misdemeanor only, as he was allowed but not required to do under California law. After determining that Ewing should be punished for a felony offense, the trial judge applied California’s “three strikes" law, where a criminal defendant must be sentenced indeterminate life sentence, which in this case was twenty-five years to life. Ewing claimed that the sentence was disproportionate
This started in the early 1930s, and ended around the 1960s. This is when the research really occurred because nothing seemed to be working and around 1970s, the government abolished or attempted to abolish parole. Under conditional release of parole, there are two different types, discretionary release, and mandatory release. The discretionary release is based on the paroling authority’s assessment of the offender’s eligibility. Mandatory release is an early release after a time period specified by law.
If the offender is found guilty for the charge they will receive the harsher sentence, it is all about being honest within the federal courts, on determining the offenders
The Three Strikes Law states that a penalty enhancement should be handed down to anyone who had previously been convicted of one or more supposedly serious or violent felonies. Under the same laws, an offender who had previously been convicted of a violent or serious felony, regardless of how diminished it may be, face the risk of double-sentencing under the guidelines of the second strike. On the other hand, a third- strike sentencing guideline is applied when an offender with two or more previous crimes is convicted. Under this guideline, a minimum of twenty-five years to life is applied. However, for the third-strike sentence to be passed, the previous crimes committed must be either violent or serious.
Ricky Franklin Smith was charged (as an adult) with breaking and entering a building with intents to commit larceny. Smith acknowledged that he had broken a window of a warehouse Pontiac, entered the building, and removed property without permission. Therefore Smith was sentenced to three and one-half to ten years for breaking and entering as a first time offender. But that sentence was vacated and Smith was sentenced to serve six to thirty years as a habitual offender (this was his fourth offense). Smith filed an appeal for improper sentencing because he cited that presentencing court judge used his juvenile record to characterize him as a “habitual offender” and a “danger to society”.
Prosecution & Sentencing Issues Wrongful Convictions Mateusz Konieczkowski CRM 420-01 Professor Rivolta 5 May 2015 Central Connecticut State University #1 There has been many times where the tough-on-crime approach has characterized our Criminal Justice System since the early 1980’s. One of these policies is the Sentencing guideline. Many times, when judges following the sentencing polices, they are too soft on the criminals. Some criminals get away with the crime that they have done. Even in the book illustrates how “a second problem was the recognition of racial disparities” (Mays & Ruddel, 2015).
Inmates may either be eligible for parole or for pardon. Parole is the release from incarceration prior to expiration of sentence. This process requires a parole officer to be in charge with helping the offender get back on his or her feet, by helping them find a job and by providing advising and counseling. Pardons may either be conditional or full pardon. A full pardon means complete exoneration of blame for the offense, while conditional pardon relieves some of the limitations that the offenders suffer.
Say that a man is caught using drugs. Police are notified and he is sent to prison. On one end, yes, he will go to jail and take a few free years out of his life. But, he will be put into rehab and will be taught to quit using the drugs that he once depended on. Which will, in the end, add years onto his life.
When a judge is considering sentencing to convict an offender specific deterrence should be more valuable than general deterrence but both are needed in the sentencing process. For the offender not to reoffend specific deterrence need to be embedded to determine the certainty of the crime. So the offender will not commit the same crime twice. Overall doing the sentencing process the judge have the right to use this offender specific deterrence to promote general deterrence to the public. This will allow other to fear the consequences and possibly punishment if they commit this specific crime.
Three-Strikes Law It is my intention to establish a relationship between the three strikes law and retention rates of prisoners incarcerated for low level offenses. Before I begin to discuss the three-strikes law, it is imperative that I give some background information on sentencing guidelines. During the 1970 's the incarceration sentences imposed were indeterminate, meaning the judge had the discretion to sentence an offender on a case by case basis and sentencing a person to state prison or county jail was supposed to be to rehabilitate that person so he/she could re-enter society. Often time’s prisoners were sentenced to different amounts of time for similar offenses.
For example, the parole and supervised release committee must take into consideration the victims opinion when considering a offenders release, thus limiting the boards ability to use it’s discretion on what they may be a more appropriate release date. The goals of the victim-witness program could also potentially limit the prosecutions ability to prosecute the offender for a longer sentence. For example, a victim could potentially want to forgive the offender for the harm they have been cause, therefore, seeking for a more lenient sentence then the prosecution may be seeking, thus constricting the prosecutions
Previous policies which reduced the amount of time an offender served on a sentence, such as good behavior, earned-time and parole board release, are restricted or eliminated under truth-in-sentencing laws. The definition of truth in sentencing varies among the States, as do the percent of sentence required to be served and the crimes covered by the laws. Most States have targeted violent offenders under truth in sentencing law. A few States, such as Florida, Mississippi, and Ohio, require all offenders to serve a substantial amount of their sentence before they can be eligible for
The are several types of sentencing that follows what is intended to be an impartial judicial proceeding during which criminal responsibility is ascertaining. Majority of the sentencing decisions are made by judges, although in cases such as death sentence cases, a jury may be involved in a special sentencing of the sentencing process. Unfortunately, sentencing decision is one of the most difficult made by any judge or a jury especially when it impacts someone’s life. Additionally, there are numerous sentencing models in the United States such as determinate, indeterminate, and mandatory minimum sentencing. First, determinate sentencing is a set term of incarceration and sentencing could potentially be reduced by good time.
These models are issued based on the type and seriousness of the crime committed (Seiter, 2014). Determinate sentencing means that an offender is being sentenced to a fixed amount of time in the prison system with a specific release date. In contrast, an indeterminate sentence involves an offender being sentenced to prison for a term that includes a minimum sentence without a specific maximum term. After the minimum sentence has been served, the case goes before a parole board for possible early release (Seiter,
In other words, if you commit a crime the second time, you serve double and if you commit the 3rd time, you get sentenced minimum 25 yrs. in jail, no matter what crime it is. This was a new law implemented after a man who was recently paroled. He had many criminal records such as drug possession and gun abuse. At the time of release, he was on influence and was a drug addict.