ipl-logo

Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Essay

701 Words3 Pages

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. Offenders also have an opportunity to get time reduced off their conviction by participating in educational programs and community services. Second, indeterminate sentencing is enforced through releasing an incarcerated offender by a parole board that can be revoked for violating those conditions. In indeterminate sentencing, punishments are generally fit the criminal rather than the crime they are committed are convicted of. Third, the mandatory sentences are those that are required by law under certain circumstances such as conviction of a specified crime or of a series of offenses. By 1994, all 50 states had authorized several mandatory minimum sentencing laws. Offenders that who used weapons or illegal drugs may face additional time to their prison time. Under the terms of mandatory sentencing an offender is required to serve a specified amount of time before being eligible for release Siegel, Schmalleger, & Worrall, 2015). …show more content…

(2016). Imprisonment Inertia and Public Attitudes Toward "Truth in Sentencing". Brigham Young University Law Review, 2015(2), 257-305.

Siegel, L. J., Schmalleger, F., & Worrall, J. L. (2015). Courts and criminal justice in America (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:

Show More
Related
550 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
1497 Words | 6 Pages

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).

Read More
182 Words | 1 Pages

Annotated Bibliography Bower, Alicia. " Constitutionally Crowded: Brown v. Plata and How the Supreme Court Pushed Back to Keep Prison Reform Litigation Alive." Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review 45.2 (2012): 555-67. Academic Search Complete. Web.

Read More
1055 Words | 5 Pages

Roper v. Simmons is considered a landmark case and is one of a handful that shows a new direction in granting some relief from what has been established as harsh “adult” punishments for juveniles (Elrod & Ryder, 2014). In fact, many studies are showing that the differences between adults and juveniles are quite significant (Elrod & Ryder, 2014). The courts are realizing that these differences must be taking into account when dealing with juveniles in the criminal justice system (Elrod & Ryder, 2014). However, that being said, change does not occur overnight, and for the unforeseeable future, juveniles will still continue to be waived into adult courts (Elrod & Ryder, 2014).

Read More
96 Words | 1 Pages

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.

Read More
945 Words | 4 Pages

Evaluate the effectiveness of sentencing and punishment as a means of achieving justice. The Australian criminal justice system is moderately effective in relation to sentencing and punishment as a means of achieving justice for offenders, victims and society. Sentencing and punishment is a key process utilised to enforce legislation, resolving and deterring criminal actions. Its effectiveness in upholding the interests of society is determined by the ability of enforcement to consider specific and general deterrence, retribution, rehabilitation and incapacitation.

Read More
224 Words | 1 Pages

In the U.S. criminal justice system, there are two basic sentencing models that the courts use to apply their judgments. These are determinate sentencing and indeterminate sentencing. Determinate sentencing can be referred as a set sentence imposed to an offender this model is based on the famous phrase “Do the crime and will do the time”; however, this model has a unique quality and that is that a parole board can’t overturn the length of the sentence that was imposed. On the other hand indeterminate sentencing can be describe as the length of a sentences that has not being defined yet like the term “25 to life” on this term you can see that the sentencing was not set to an specific time frame, that means that the offenders release date is

Read More
1798 Words | 8 Pages

Introduction Crime, its punishment, and the legislation that decides the way in which they interact has long been a public policy concern that reaches everyone within a given society. It is the function of the judicial system to distribute punishment equitably and following the law. The four traditional goals of punishment, as defined by Connecticut General Assembly (2001), are: “deterrence, incapacitation, retribution, and rehabilitation.” However, how legislature achieves and balances these goals has changed due to the implementation of responses to changing societal influences. Mandatory minimum sentences exemplify this shift.

Read More
1145 Words | 5 Pages

Deterrence and the Death Penalty: The Views of the Experts. The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (1973-), 87(1), 1. doi:10.2307/1143970 This article was written by Michael L. Radelet and Ronald L. Akers. They both consulted experts on criminology and criminal behaviour to evaluate the effectiveness of the Death Penalty.

Read More
399 Words | 2 Pages

The existence of mandatory minimums are a major issue in the United States today. Since the implementation of Mandatory minimums, the prison population has increased 800%. This massive rise in prisoner population has come with devastating economic and human costs. The death of Len Bias, the moral panic that ensued, and corporate looking to make a profit off of it, have all culminated in the implementation of mandatory minimums. Len Bias was an American college basketball player who had just been recruited to play in the NBA, he died in 1986 due to a heart attack believed to have been caused by cocaine use.

Read More
1131 Words | 5 Pages

In determinate sentencing the judge can make adjustments to the final day of incarceration, however, the inmate can leave no sooner that the mentioned final day. During indeterminate sentencing, a final day of incarceration is not known exactly and adjustments can be made for different modes of incarceration. The judge and jury are able to change these sentences depending on the severity of the crime and the history of the inmate. I believe that this is why judicial discretion has such a great effect on these types of sentencing. The sentences can be adjusted appropriately in order to be sure that the offender does not end up being given too much or too little time for the crime that they committed.

Read More
958 Words | 4 Pages

However, some argue that this enhancement is more fair than persistent violent felony offender status because it only applies to individuals who have committed two violent felonies, rather than those who have been convicted of two or more. In addition to these sentencing enhancements, New York State also has a number of violent felony offenses that carry severe penalties. These offenses include murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, rape, and assault with a deadly weapon, among others. Those convicted of these offenses face long prison terms and may also be subject to the persistent violent felony offender or second violent felony offender enhancements if they have previous violent felony convictions. While these sentencing enhancements and violent felony offenses may seem harsh, proponents argue that they are necessary to keep violent offenders off the streets and protect society.

Read More
1402 Words | 6 Pages

For example, individuals focused more on demographics of the victim and offender (e.g., age, gender, non-criminal behavior of the victim) than on legally relevant factors (e.g., multiple victims, act committed with other felonies) when deciding whether to sentence a defendant to death. When the considerations of age, gender and emotional factors were explained this often led to participants applying stricter standards to the circumstances that warranted an offense as death penalty eligible than the standards deemed by many states’ laws. Although each scenario was based on an actual death penalty case, several participants who supported the death penalty only supported it when the victim was a child or when there were multiple victims. Participants’ unwillingness to sentence offenders to death in the depicted scenarios may show that their standards are more severe than legal

Read More
721 Words | 3 Pages

In the criminal justice system, the corrections component is also responsible for the rehabilitation of the convicted individual. It is their duty to attempt to make the defendant a productive member of society once again. Based on the individual’s behavior while incarcerated, the court and corrections officials may decide to place them on parole, which ensures that the individual will comply with the rules of society once they are fully released from the system. The criminal justice system is an essential role in the organizational structure of not only the United States but also in countries around the world. If there were no criminal justice system to administer punishment, the world would be unstructured, disorganized, unjustified, cruel, and not to mention a chaotic place for it citizens.

Read More
1048 Words | 5 Pages

There is a worldwide trend in the use of penal imprisonment for serious offenses as capital punishment has been renounced by an increasing number of countries. Harsh punishments include capital punishment, life imprisonment and long-term incarceration. These forms of punishments are usually used against serious crimes that are seen as unethical, such as murder, assault and robbery. Many people believe that harsher punishments are more effective as they deter would-be criminals and ensure justice is served. Opposition towards harsh punishments have argued that harsher punishments does not necessarily increase effectiveness because they do not have a deterrent effect, do not decrease recidivism rates and do not provide rehabilitation.

Read More

More about Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Essay

Related Topics

Open Document