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Discussion on mandatory minimum sentencing laws
The importance of mandatory sentencing
Mandatory sentencing
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The sentencing can be more lenient if you are white because of bias and
It shouldn’t be that way. For those who commit a lower-level crime like drug possession, petty theft, or selling marijuana, prison is not just unfair, it is also a bad sanction for society at large. Reduce sentence minimums and maximums currently on the books. If someone commits a serious crime, like robbery, they should be punished. But there’s little evidence that staying in prison for such long periods of time, such as the 20 or 30-year sentences imposed, will rehabilitate prisoners.
Mandatory minimum sentences are sentences mandated by law for
Alexander identifies mandatory minimums and three-strikes laws as major contributors to the mass incarceration epidemic. Mandatory minimums are laws that attach mandatory prison sentences to certain kinds of offenses. These laws are controversial among judges, who tend to feel that they reduce judicial discretion and prevent them from handing down proportionate sentences. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court has often ruled in favor of mandatory minimum sentencing laws. Often ruling that while these sentences were harsh, they were not unconstitutional.
For the same crimes, minorities are given harsher punishments, according to the literature (Feld, Singer, Skolnick, & Roberts, 2012). Cultural bias toward the LGBTQ community and the impoverished are two structural problems that must be addressed (The Balance, 2019). This bias may lead to erroneous accusations and convictions of otherwise innocent persons. American Jury System The jury system is an important part of the American criminal justice system because it guarantees defendants the opportunity to be tried by a group of their peers.
A racial disparity in sentencing has been analyzed to play a huge role in the sentencing of individuals for over 20 years. In most
Mandatory minimum sentencing policies were set into action with good intentions, but the law did not turn out as expected. The mandatory minimum sentencing acts were created to provide equality that every offender of the particular crime will serve the same punishment. This ensures that there will be no bias. They were expected to lower crime rates, because people will possibly think twice before committing a crime if the mandatory minimum sentence is five year or if they have been convicted before, they will not want to be incarcerated again for double the time. Judges cannot change the sentence.
Racial disparities concerning sentencing have an adverse effect on the African American community. Racial profiling and plea bargaining are contributing factors that lead to overrepresentation of minorities in the judicial system. Data and statistics support the assumption that African Americans are disproportionately subjected to racial profiling, traffic stops which leads to searches and seizures that lead to minor offenses which can also lead to incarceration, rather than probation or rehabilitation (Kamalu, Coulson-Clark, & Kamalu, 2010). The existence of racial prejudice exists when African American defendants are more likely to be convicted and given harsher charges than their white counterparts that have received the same charge, but
No, prisons should not be abolished. They should not be abolished but they to be more specific in the crimes that are considered federal. Also they need to reevaluate the amount of time given to certain crimes. Criminals need to be reprimanded for their own actions but some actions need other alternatives to imprisonment. Rapists receive years of imprisonment for the crime they have committed as far as discipline.
As demonstrated in Trends in U.S. corrections, the U.S. has had the highest rates of incarceration as of 2011 adding up to more than seventy hundred thousand(The Sentencing Project 3). Race and class play an important role on who is punished for such crimes as well as who gets
Criminals that have been convicted of murder, rape, child abuse, and other violent crimes due deserve some punishment. They get thrown in jail where they suffer boredom and other minor difficulties, but typically they do not suffer the way they made their victims suffer. Non-violent offenders, crimes like auto-theft or burglary, should not suffer beatings and other harmful things that other inmates might force upon them. They broke the law without hurting people physically, so they should have to suffer through assault in prison. No, inmates should not be harmed physically, emotionally, or physically, but it will happen in prison and when it happens it should be the violent contenders that are
A person should be punished appropriately for the crime they committed but the punishment should not include putting strain or forcing them to severe their relationships with their
Even the innocent get sentenced major years for crimes that weren't even committed by them. Sentence reforming needs to take action.
Punishment serves as a method to deter people from wrongdoings, and to let people know what actions are wrong. If there were no negative repercussions to wrongful acts, people would simply attribute their wrongdoings to determinism and claim they are not morally responsible for their actions, since their actions stem from prior causes that they have no control
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.