Social Class And Sentencing

Improved Essays
In today’s era it is common to hear people say “money makes the world go round”, and without a doubt living in 2017 it can be true in some circumstances. For example one of the many situations that money is quite important is sentencing, it has become known that many judges base the offender's sentencing based on their background information. They check for their previous offenses, gender, age, severity of his or her case and social class. When they check their social class it is a red flag for the judges to give the offenders what they call a proper sentence. As authors Siegel and Bartollas (2016) go into detail stating, “Some evidence lends support to an association between social class and sentencing decisions. Lower-class offenders

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Pyrrhic Defeat Theory

    • 1265 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Reiman and Leighton’s book, The Rich Get Richer And the Poor Get Prison explores a theory that the American criminal justice system is set up in such a way that it is very detrimental to the lower class. The typical reaction to a theory like this is to assume that it is a conspiracy, but Reiman and Leighton make sure to include a section on why this is real, and not a tinfoil hat conspiracy. Their reasoning is that while the criminal justice system is failing to significantly cut down crime, the results of that failure are positive to the upper class, who are the only people that could fix the failure (Reiman and Leighton 5-7).…

    • 1265 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Studies show that the United States of America has become the country with the highest crime rate throughout the world. In many instances in our country, wealthy criminals or those that commit crimes who belong to the upper class society tend to be overlooked or exempt from being punished for their crimes. However, this isn’t the case for the poorer end of the spectrum, when it comes to those less fortunate the criminal justice system tend to deem them as less adequate and their punishments usually end with jail or imprisonment. In Jeffrey Reiman’s The Rich get Richer and the Poor get Prison, he argues that the best way to understand the policies that are correlated with our criminal justice system, we must look at the Pyrrhic Defeat Model.…

    • 1028 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Criminal behavior is not a lower class monopoly, but is dispersed throughout the classes. Whereas the distribution of punishment falls tremendously and scientifically, on the poor and the underprivileged class. Biased decision-making in the criminal justice system guarantees that the socially privileged are regularly filtered out. The privileged are often given the benefit of the doubt, or are defined as a “good” risk, or they have the ability to access to the top legal guidance. Imprisonment is primarily used for the unemployed, poor, homeless, mentally ill, addicts, and individuals who do not have social support and personal assets.…

    • 283 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Edwin Sutherland was seen as the most important criminologists from the Chicago School (Cartwright, 2011, p.159). Influenced by Shaw and McKay, Sutherland established the differential association theory; which later influenced other criminologists and sociologists to introduce other theories (Cartwright, 2011, p.155). Sutherland, as well as others, explored white-collar criminality, and while investigating this, he came up with differential association theory (which later lead to social learning theory). His differential association theory is based off the idea all aspects of criminal behaviour are learnt (Cartwright, 2011, p.156).…

    • 1213 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    I decided to do my third and final article review for this class over an article by Stewart J. D’ Alessio and Lisa Stoizenberg titled “Socioeconomic Status and the Sentencing of the Traditional Offender”. This article takes an in depth look at whether it not the socioeconomic status or how rich or poor someone is really can determine whether or not they are given a particular sentence for their crime. The main theme of this particular article deals mainly with how the socioeconomic status of an offender can directly impact the type of sentence they are given from the judge. The main topic that the reader can expect to see quite often throughout the article is how socioeconomic status plays in our sentencing structure throughout multiple crimes…

    • 1704 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Kelsee Kessel 12/1/16 “ The rich get richer and the Poor get prison. “ The book “ The rich get richer and the poor get prison “ by Jeffrey Reiman and Paul Leighton is an attempt to give the reader a look into the criminal justice system that the media and American government doesn’t. It highlights the bias of criminal charges against the poor as opposed to the well off and claims that from even before the process of arrest, trial, and sentencing, the system is biased against the poor. Whether that be in what it choosen to be treated as crime, who is conviced , length of sentencing or ignoring the numerous criminal acts of the rich. It also claims that there isn’t enough compassion or attention for the reasons for crime in poverty stricken neighborhoods but rather these people are looked down upon.…

    • 1913 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Medieval Europe Crime and Punishment: During the middle ages, also known as the medieval period and the dark ages lasted from 476 to 1455CE, crime and punishment of serfs, freeman and nobles changed to a large extent according to the severity of punishments and types of punishments criminals receive today. This can be seen through the analysis of key features of everyday life, the effect of social class on punishment and the punishments given to people today. The daily lives of serfs and freeman varied depending on the requirements of their lord and whether it was their working day or not.…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Introduction The juvenile justice system has long been a topic of discussion. These discussions consisted of whether or not the system should exist at all and, after it was established, there was debate regarding what rights should and should not be granted to juveniles. The racial disparities that disproportionately affect African American and Latino youth soon became a large part of this discussion. This caused a number of questions to arise regarding the affect race has in juvenile justice decision making.…

    • 1353 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    prisons has received much attention in recent years, but the disproportionate representation of minorities is not limited to adult prisons. It is also found among youth confined in secure juvenile facilities. The crimes for which racial minorities and whites are imprisoned also differ; blacks and Hispanics were much more likely than whites to be imprisoned for drug offenses. This disparity is noteworthy since drug offenses constitute a larger share of the growth in the state prison system today. (Bonczar, 2003) states that there also are substantial racial and ethnic differences in the “lifetime likelihood of imprisonment.”…

    • 1792 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Middle-Class Delinquency

    • 621 Words
    • 3 Pages

    There are two major factors I believe plays a great role in middle-class delinquency which lead many teenage to join gangs. The American Dream concept is known around the world. It is the concept that America is the land of opportunities to where anyone can make something of themselves without their native’s cultural restraints. The main idea of the American Dream is that if you work hard or obtain a good education, you’ll accumulate wealth which symbolizes success. Throughout all America’s social classes, it is the belief that success in measured by wealth.…

    • 621 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Punishment and Inequality in America by Bruce Western a former Sociology Professor at Princeton University goes into great detail on the evolution of punishment in America and its overall affects. He expands on one of the most controversial topics in America the American penal system; and how it went from a rehabilitative, self-reflecting tool in the early 19th century to a deterrent and strict form of punishment in the mid 20th century. Western also touches base on racial inequality in regards to imprisonment in the United States and the overall effect it has on one group of people. Western begins his book with a brief history of American penitentiaries, naming two famous institutions, Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia and Auburn State Prison in upstate New York.…

    • 1296 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The, “American Dream,” is practically the leading cause of crime in the United States. Why do people commit crimes? Often for money and personal gain, but why? Often you will see people who commit crimes just to make ends meet, but more often than not you see people committing an excess of crime, and why do you think they do this? To live the “American Dream” and give their lives a sense of meaning.…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Around 100 years ago, the juvenile justice system was established in order to divert youthful offenders from the courts harsh punishments which has long lasting effects. The juvenile justice system focused and encouraged rehabilitation based on a juveniles individual needs. This system created for minors was to differ from those of the adult courts in a number of ways. Instead of focusing on the criminal act that had brought the juvenile offender into the court room in the first place, this system was designed to focus on the minor or juvenile as a person who was in need of assistance.…

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Crime and Punishment in America through the Years Crime and punishment in the United States of America has changed through the years’ time and time again. Presidents through time, as well as the American population, have been the cause for all the “see-sawing” between crime and punishment. Most of the recent back and forth comes from the human interpretation of what a “cruel and unusual punishment” is, and from the questions of justification for the state taking a life. These questions date back to 1767 when Cesare Beccaria’s published “Crime and Punishment,” an essay which helped abolitionists show their voice and views on capital punishment.…

    • 1745 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    "The clock has been turned back on racial progress in America, though scarcely anyone seems to notice." (Alexander 2012: 180) Criminal justice inequality has a toll on every possible chance given throughout future lives. The chances of getting a home and having a family may vary. Most importantly criminal justice affects the amount of wealth someone can accumulate to achieve these future goals. It is a scary thought to think that young black men being trapped in the criminal justice system has just become a "norm" in society.…

    • 1287 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays