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Pros And Cons Of Indeterminate Sentencing

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Determinate vs. Indeterminate Sentencing

Sentencing is a fundamental stage in the of the criminal justice process. After the trial process is complete and the defendant has been found guilty the court will impose the penalty. The basic goals of modern sentencing are retribution, incapacitation, deterrence, rehabilitation and restoration. These goals are achieved by different sentencing practices which are indeterminate and determinate sentencing. This essay will compare indeterminate and determinate sentencing; outline the pros and cons of each sentencing model while providing two examples of each.

Indeterminate sentencing is a form of “criminal punishment that encourages rehabilitation through the use of general and relatively unspecific …show more content…

Determinate sentencing can reduce bias of judges and juries adding consistency to sentencing. The predetermined sentence, if found guilty for an offender, is solely based off of the crime and not the race, religion or identity. This consistency, however, doesn’t allow any discretion for judges to impose sentences based off of the circumstances of the crime. The problem with determinate sentencing is that the offender would serve his or her entire sentence. This meaning the offender would not be released until the sentence that was imposed was carried out. This “definite sentence” doesn’t assist the offender in rehabilitation. Determinate sentencing doesn’t give incentive for good behavior (Castillo, 2013). An advantage of determinate sentencing is this is a standard deterrence for a crime. If you commit a crime you know what the consequences of those actions will be. You will serve the full amount of time for the act. It does not waiver if you plead guilty or are determined guilty. Determinate sentencing impacts prison overpopulation because, it “does not allow an inmate to be eligible for parole, until at least 85% of the prison term has been served” (Mudaliar, 2015). This causes stress for the correctional staff and can increase violence inside the

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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.

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Indeterminate sentences are imposed with the individual criminal in mind. A minimum and maximum sentence such as 3-5 years are given by a judge. After the minimum sentence is served, the length of incarceration may vary based on the prisoner’s level of cooperation with the correctional agency. Early parole may be granted for good behavior. Determinate sentences are a fixed term of incarceration.

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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

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