The first article is written by Cyndy Caravelis, Ted Chiricos, and William Bales (2011) called “Static and Dynamic Indicators of Minority Treat in Sentencing Outcomes: A Multi-Level Analysis” and the second article is called “Sentencing with Discretion:Crack Cocaine Sentencing after Booker” by Ryan S. King and Marc Mauer in 2006. In addition, the last article is by Mona Lynch and Marisa Omori (2014) called “Legal Change and Sentencing Norms in the Wake of Booker: The Impact of Time and Place on Drug Trafficking Cases in Federal Court” from the Law and Society Review. Summary Caravelis, Chiricos, and Bales (2011) examines the “Habitual Offender” using a hierarchical generalized linear modeling to look at the direct effects of race using static…
Commerce law assessment task 3- Lachlan O’Malley Mandatory Sentencing in New South Wales 1. Mandatory Sentencing- a mandatory sentence is a court decision where legal discretion is limited by law. Most frequently, people convicted of certain crimes such as armed robbery or murder must be punished with at least a minimum number of years set in prison. 2.…
Sentence reform began in the early 80’s in the United States Congress. Because of the Sentence Reform Act (SRA) of 1984 which also was the birth of the Sentencing Commission, which their sole purpose was to regulate sentencing guidelines. In October of 1984, the Sentencing Commission was first organized which consisted of nine members. The federal crimes that had taken place on November 1, 1987, was when the commission's guidelines were activated. There were strict guidelines that the committee looked at when they viewed the sentencing guidelines.…
Regrettably, the kidnapping of Polly Klaas occurred and caught the attention of media nationally. From the beginning the media focused on sharing the picture and story of Polly Klaas, they shared the kidnapping, the two-month search, and eventually of discovery of the raped and strangled body of Polly. Even after the body was discovered the media continued to focus on this story, sharing the arrest and trial of career criminal Richard Davis. With so much publicity on the murder of Polly Klaas Jones reintroduced Reynold’s bill on March 1994 and this time the public safety committee voted to send the bill to the Assembly and then the Senate where the Democrats and Republicans approved it.…
When it comes to federal and state courts their sentencing methods are different in away because federal courts deal with all federal crimes and the sentencing as well as the trial takes place in a federal court close to where the actual crime happen. Now in a federal court the judge uses a manual known as “The Federal Sentencing Guidelines” (avvo.com. n.d.). This helps them to calculate the penalties for a serious offense sentence. Unfortunately, this sentencing guideline cannot be used mandatorily; it is still used in helping make penalty considerations. Now in a state court penalties and sentencing are often guided by the state legislation.…
On October 24 1993 a twelve year old Tracy Latimer suffering from a severe form of cerebral palsy was killed by her father out of compassion. The father, Robert Latimer was then sentenced to the full twenty-five years in prison because mandatory minimum sentencing was barring any reduction to the punishment. Regardless of the circumstances, mandatory minimums set standards in sentencing that will prohibit any punishment lower than the specified level. Despite Robert’s sympathetic intentions he received a severe penalty for his actions. It was worried that if Robert managed to receive a lesser punishment other criminals would argue the validity of their sentence as well ( 'Compassionate homicide ': The law and Robert Latimer, 2010).…
When it comes to mandatory minimum sentences this may apply to many violent or drug-related crimes,…
Judges are limited in their sentencing discretion by statutory provisions, philosophical rationales, organization considerations, presentence investigation reports, and their own characteristics. There are many statutory provisions are indeterminate sentencing, determinate sentencing, flat-time sentencing, mandatory sentencing, presumptive sentencing and then the restitution that has been paid for the injuries that the defendant has caused. The philosophical rationales that limit are a judge are the criminal sanction penalties that have been set for violating criminal law. There are three organization considerations that limit the amount of discretion a judge has is he plea bargains that have been set, the capacity of the system, and the amount…
I believe that by making some changes to the mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines would in the long run make our justice system better able to serve the people. I know many of you, like I believe there should be no change to the mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines, but have you or I for that matter really thought through what that means for people like Lee Wollard or Trina Garnett? Lee Wollard didn’t hurt the young man, he protected his daughter and family, yet is spending twenty years behind bars because he fired a warning shot into his home. Trina Garnett was an abused teenager with a mental illness that needed medical care not sent to prison.…
According to the Sentencing Project, which is a non-profit organization that promotes reduced reliance on incarceration and increased use of more effective alternatives to deal with crime, states that the United States correctional system of the past thirty years has been characterized by a population increasing the exponentially in response to changes in policy towards mandatory minimum and determinate sentencing (Sentencing). In other words, individuals convicted of a crime today are more likely to be sentenced to incarceration and spend longer terms in prison, than their counterparts in previous decades (Sentencing). In 2002, state and federal prison and local jail populations exceeded 2 million, a trend that has contributed to prison overcrowding and has overwhelmed state governments with the burden of funding this rapidly expanding penal system (Sentencing). These changes in policy have resulted in the reality that prisons today are filled with large numbers of non-violent and drug…
The research attempts to ascertain the impact that mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines have had on the criminal justice system as a whole in the United States. With its advent, mandatory minimum sentences have arguably had an economic impact on the justice system, particularly in corrections systems. Due to the fact that there are now more people being incarcerated for longer periods because of these sentencing guidelines, prisons are bearing an increasing cost for housing these inmates. Another factor that the research looks into is the inequities that are inherent when sentencing a non-violent offender with a sentence that is as stringent if not more so than those who have committed violent felonies. The repercussions these guidelines…
In the early 1970's, a vast number of states transformed their sentencing protocol to new methods that seemed to be more structured as the concerns arose in the criminal justice system (Gregory & Leymon, 2010). Judicial discretion can impact determinate and indeterminate sentences as the power remains among the judge as to the severity of the sentence that will be carried out. " The forms of sentencing sanctions available to judges vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but generally include diversionary programs, fines, probation, intermediate sanctions, confinement in jail, incarceration in a state or federal prison, and the death penalty", (Siegel & Bartollas, 2014, p. 39).…
There are thousands of nonviolent drug offenders serving a lengthy mandatory prison sentencing within federal prisons. Years ago, during the “war on drugs”, this was President Richard Nixon quick fix to the dramatic growth on drug use and dealing. Decades later, maybe sooner, it has come to light that this mandatory sentencing mostly affected African American Men. For example, powder cocaine versus crack cocaine, were said to be two different drugs and crack cocaine dealers would serve a mandatory sentencing if in possession of such. Crack cocaine was an easy drug to acquire in urban neighbourhoods while powder cocaine was seen as a much prestige drug used among a more rich community.…
It was designed to have criminals serve majority of their sentence in jail then on the street. Before the act was passed offenders were serving a substantially less time in jail then what the courts ordered. Since offenders were being released so easily States shifted to determinate sentencing which required a mandatory minimum sentencing guideline in the 1980s. This transition kept offenders behind bars for more time and is one of the main causes of the overcrowding of prisons. The budget cannot currently support the increasing numbers of inmates entering the jails.…
The idea is that dangerous criminals cannot commit additional crimes if they are locked up. A situation exemplified by Larry Siegel and John Worral (2012) is of Michael Woodbury who after serving a five year sentence for robbery and theft went on a multistate crime spree which resulted in the deaths of three people. Woodbury claimed to have warned officials of the Maine State Prison that he would be a danger to society if he was released, however his claims where disregarded (Sharp, 2007). Lives could have been spared had Woodbury been incapacitated longer. Another example of incapacitation is the “three strikes” laws which are aimed at getting habitual offenders of the…