Individualization within the justice system allows for the best kind of punishment there is. Not only does it better prescribe to the requirements of our Eighth Amendment rights, protecting against cruel and unusual punishment, but also it likely would save tax payers’ money. Considering the mens rea of the individual allegedly committing the crime can bring about the fullest …show more content…
There will always be something in a person’s life or from the circumstance of the moment that will factor into the outcome, effecting it differently. What the justice system should strive for is a type of individualized equality. In the system of equal justice, where two people committing the same crime receive the same punishment, there is less likelihood of racism effecting the outcome of punishment and sentencing. While discretion, a great tool of the criminal justice system, is helpful at times, it leads to less focus on the goals of the criminal justice system and more the whims of one individual. As Gottfredson (1990) discussed greatly, in order to have effective objectives that are successful within the criminal justice system, more decision guidelines should be put in place to further rationalize the process (p.