Chapter 9 Punishment Sentencing The Goals of Punishment Retribution deserved punishment punishment inflicted on a person who has infringed on the rights of others and so deserved to be penalized o eye for an eye those who commit a particular crime should be punished alike o Some say that if the state doesn t provide retribution citizens might take law into their own hands can create social chaos o One who infringes on the rights of others deserves to be punished harm society Deterrence o Roots of this approach was created by Jeremy Bentham Tough on crime in order to influence public o General Deterrence punishment of criminals that is intended to be an example to the general public and to discourage the commission of offenses Constant reminders to public costs of committing a crime outweigh the benefits o Specific Deterrence punishment inflicted on criminals to discourage them from committing future crimes Punishment must be severe enough for criminals to say the consequences were too painful and I will not commit another crime o Deterrence assumes that all people think before they act Doesn t account for people under the influence of drugs or people who act impulsively in stealing or damaging Incapacitation depriving an offender of the ability to commit crimes against society usually detaining a defender in prison o Keeps them from committing further crimes future oriented o Severity of crime and prior record affect sentence whether the person should be held in prison o Selective incapacitation making the best use of expensive and limited prison space by targeting for incarceration those individuals whose incapacity will do the most to reduce crime in society Offenders who repeat certain kinds of crimes receive longer prison terms Rehabilitation goal of restoring convicted offenders to a constructive place in society through some form of training or therapy o If the person s crime resulted from some social psychological or biological imperfection the goal is to treat their disorder o Offenders are treated not punished and will return to society when they are cured o Some argue we cannot identify the cause of criminal behavior for offenders not obvious reasons anymore like low income or location A New Approach to Punishment Restorative Justice o Restorative justice punishment designed to repair the damage done to the victim and the community by an offender s criminal act Repair the bonds that were broken in the community through the crime Losses suffered by the victim are restored threat of local safety is removed and offender becomes a fully participating member of the community Forms of Criminal Sanction Depends on the severity of the crime and the discretion of judge Incarceration imprisonment o Standard for punishing those who commit serious crimes o Most visible penalty imposed by US it is expensive o Deters potential offenders o Indeterminate Sentence a period set by the judge that specifies and maximum and a minimum sentence that the criminal serves in prison ex 10 to 15 years Gives parole boards significant patrol The goal is treatment and rehab o Determinate Sentence a sentence that has a fixed term of imprisonment Freed after sentence Penal codes have been adopted to stipulate a specific amount of time a prisoner can serve for a crime Presumptive sentence a sentence where the legislature or commission sets a min and a max range of months or years Judges are the fix the length of the sentence within that range o Mandatory Sentences sentence determined by statuses and requiring that a certain penalty be imposed and carried out for convicted offenders who meet certain criteria Called mandatory minimum sentences Mainly for serios crime violence drugs firearms habitual offenders three strikes youre out sentencing o The Sentence vs Actual Time Served The sentence normally bears little resemblance to the actual amount of time served Good time getting off early for good behavior Maintain institutional order reduce crowding and are an incentive for prisoners to follow rules Reduce the amount of rate of larger sentences o Truth in sentencing Offenders must serve a substantial portion of their prison sentence before being released on parole Intermediate Sanctions a variety of punishments that are more restrictive than traditional probation but less severe and costly than incarceration o House arrest community serve boot camp restitution to victim returning property o If sentencing is breached they will be incarcerated Probation sentence person serves under supervision of the community nearly 60 of all sentences o Imposed specifying how an offender will behave through length of sentence Curfews drug test educational programs o If broken will have to serve rest of sentence in prison Shock probation serves a short incarceration and then the rest of the sentence on probation o Weekends nights in jail o Way to rehabilitate offenders whose crimes are not serious and have Death Penalty clean records Captial punishement was carried out until the late 1960 s where they ruled it to be cruel and unusual punishment 8th amendment o Eventually decided it didn t violate the amendment and resumed again in 1977 The Death Penalty and the Constitution need to make sure that death fulfuills due process requirements equal protection and 8th amendment o Furman v Georgia 1972 the death penalty as administered causes cruel and unusual punishment o Gregg v Georgia 1976 death penalty laws are unconstitutional if they require the judge and jury to consider certain mitigating and aggravating circumstances in deciding which convicted murderers should be sentenced to death Bifurial Proceedings the defendant has a trial that finds him guilty or notguilty and then a separate hearing that focuses exclusively on the issues of punishment punishment phase check for existence of aggravated factors prior record youth mental ill o McClesky v Kemp 1987 Supreme court rejects a challenge of Georgia s death penalty on the grounds of racial discrimination Showed a disparaity in the imposition of the DP based on race of victim and race of defendant Interracial crimes o Atkins v Virginia 2002 execution of the mentally retrded is unconstitutional o Ring v Arizona 2002 juries not judges need to make the decision on whether a murderer should receive the death penalty o Roper v Simmons 2005 execution of offenders for crimes committed under the age of 18 no youths Continuing Legal Isssues o Execution of the Mentally ill
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