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Sentencing Guidelines - Pro vs Con

Students will be assigned a stance during Module 1. They will be expected to complete a 6 page paper (based upon instructions in the syllabus) supporting their position. They will also be expected to defend their position in class on the due date. Please refer to your syllabus for instructions for your paper submission.

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Chapter 1 - Introduction to Corrections ESSENTIALS OF CORRECTIONS INTRODUCTION  How do you depict contemporary corrections?  As seen in movies  Chain gangs, orange jumpsuits along roadways, etc. At the end of 2010 there were 7.1 million under some form of correctional supervision.  Probation, Parole, Prison, Jail are all critical components of corrections in the 21st century  In this textbook, Corrections refers to all government actions intended to manage adults who have been accused or convicted of criminal offenses and juveniles who have been charged with or found guilty of delinquency or a status offense.  From 1980 to 2010 the nations correctional system has grown from 2 million to 7.1 million, an increase of 170,000 per year average.  CURRENT TRENDS  One in three black males, one in six Hispanic males, and one in 17 white males are expected to go to prison during their lifetime (Bonczar 2003)   The unequal representation of blacks and Hispanics is often referred to as disproportionate minority contact (DMC) Female s in prison increased 21% between 2000 and 2010, males were 13,4% in same period. PHILOSOPHIES OF PUNISHMENT Retribution is the belief that punishment must avenge for harm done to another.  One of the oldest correctional philosophies.  CODE OF HAMMURABI LEX TALIONIS “If a man destroy the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye. If he break a man’s bone, they shall break his bone. If a man knock out a tooth of a man of his own rank, they shall knock out his tooth.” The law of retaliation or revenge, a legal principle that requires a response in kind for crimes committed (Encarta World Dictionary 2009) Penal Harm is the philosophy in that the belief that punishment, particularly incarceration, should be uncomfortable. This idea came in the 1990s from critics of the correctional system that retributive justice philosophy had evolved. Deterrence, this philosophy assumes that certain and severe punishment can discourage future crime by the offender and by others.” (US Department of Justice 1988, 90) Specific Deterrence, the assumption that punishment dissuades the offender from repeating the same offense or committing a new one In contemporary corrections, another form of deterrence is known as General Deterrence. With specific deterrence being about deterring the offender from committing another offense, general deterrence would punish the individual to prevent others in society from committing the same or similar crimes. The most prominent correctional philosophy, between the 1950s and 1970s, in the United States for many years was Rehabilitation. This was the belief that by “providing psychological or educational assistance or job training to offenders” would make them less likely to commit crime again. This basis was brought about by the idea that people can change, regardless of their crime or age.  No treatment program works with every possible offender  Some programs may not work with any offenders  Some programs have a high degree of efficacy; that is, they work with a broad range of offenders  Unfortunately, some offenders cannot be rehabilitated Isolation has served two purposes throughout recorded history. First, isolation as punishment: offenders were placed in dungeons or towers to separate them from human contact. Second, is the rotten apple response to criminal offenders: offenders were isolated to protect the rest of society from “spoiling” Incapacitation is the “separating offenders from the community to reduce the opportunity for further crime while they are incarcerated.” Selective Incapacitation is the assumption that career criminals can be identified early on, as preteens or teens. Policymakers use selective incapacitation to ensure that career criminals are caught, convicted, and sentenced to a significant period of incarceration. Reintegration recognizes the fact that a high percentage of offenders in prison – probably more than 90 percent – eventually get out. Once they get out, many of these offenders have a difficult time making a transition back into society. They must readjust to their families, to work, and to the label of ex-con. Restitution – having the offender repay the victim or the community in money or services. Restoration is the most recent philosophy to gain followers in the field of corrections. Restorative justice, or balanced approach, has been applied to juvenile and adult offenders. According to Gordon Bazemore (1992) the approach is based on three key elements.    Accountability requires offenders to repay or restore victims’ losses, much like restitution. Community protection weighs both public safety and the least costly, least restrictive correctional alternative. Competency development emphasizes remediation for offenders’ social, educational, or other deficiencies when they enter the correctional system. OUTLOOKS ON CORRECTIONS The Public and policymakers feel that leniency contributes to criminality and that the only response to increased criminality is tougher punishment.  When people believe that crime is on the rise, they turn to policymakers for solutions. That is what happened in the late 1970s and early 1990s. Politicians responded with get-tough-on-crime laws, key among them mandatory senences for drug-related and other crimes,   In the last two decades of the twentieth century, the incarceration rate rose from 138 to 461 per capita; between 1980 and 2010, the number of people in state and federal prisons went up over fourfold, from 329,821 to 1,509,475. By the end of the twentieth century, the united States was incarcerating people at the highest rate of any nation, a characterization that held through the first decade of the twenty-first century.  Our prisons and jails are critically crowded. Local, state, and national governments have all increased their inmate capacity, but it is clear that we cannot build ourselves out of the crowding crisis. THE ROLE OF CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES The scientific study of crime and criminals if often dated back to the late 18th century is known as Criminology. It stems from attempts to apply what we now call deterrence theory to crime. Criminal behavior is the result of Biological Determinism. Criminals are genetic misfits or biological throwbacks to earlier, primitive, and more violent beings. Psychological determinists believe that defects of the mind cause all misbehavior, including crime. Freudian psychoanalysts link human misbehavior to developmental issues originating with the following parts of the human psyche: the id (the unconscious source of primitive and hedonistic urges), the ego (that part of the mind influenced by parental training and the like), and the superego (that part of the mind that is concerned with moral values). Behavior Modification starts with the premise that all behavior is a result of learned responses to various stimuli (Skinner 1974)  The role of behavior modification in corrections has two forms.  The first, reality therapy (RT), holds the offender accountable for his or her actions.  The second, is built around a token economy. Good behavior earns the client rewards.  Why are some so called “perfect” prison inmates that rarely complain about prison life or cause any trouble for prison authorities – make poor candidates for release back into the community. One answer could be the Arousal Theory, a theory that recognizes that some criminals have no conscience. Psychopaths (or sociopaths) commit crimes with no thought of conventional morality or of the consequences of their actions. Differential association theory – Criminal values and behaviors are learned through social interactions. These values and behaviors were called definitions, and they suggested that those who become criminals are exposed to more definitions that support complying with the law. Social learning theory – Learning occurs through two mechanisms: Imitation, which involves modeling behavior after that observed in others; and differential reinforcement, the operant conditioning principle that people retain and repeat rewarded behavior and extinguish behavior that is punished. Therapeutic communities are another application of the social learning theory. Residential programs in which offenders work together to change the attitudes and behaviors of all group members. CORRECTIONAL PROGRAMS  The United States has 51 correctional systems, a system in each state, and a national system. If we add the District of Columbia and local systems in metropolitan areas like Los Angeles County and New York City, the number is even higher. Community Based Programs – traditional programs of probation and parole are examples of community based corrections efforts. These programs treat offenders in the community, under supervision and restrictions, rather than in an institution. Community based programs can also include residential placement in a group home or halfway house. These provide shelter, structure, and more constant surveillance than traditional probation and parole. Intermediate – sanction programs these are among the fastest-growing programs in contemporary corrections. These programs fall somewhere between traditional probation and incarceration on the corrections continuum. Split sentences and intermittent confinement are two forms of intermediate sanctions: both require individuals convicted of crimes to serve brief periods of confinement in a local, state, or federal facility, followed by a period of community supervision. MINIMUM SECURITY FACILITY Inmates are relatively free to move about the facility. They often sleep in open bay dormitories such as this one. MEDIUM SECURITY FACILITY Some freedom of movement throughout the institution. You can now see the increase in razor wire along the fence. MAXIMUM SECURITY FACILITY Few if any opportunities for movement throughout the institution. Large difference in the amount of razor wire on the fences. ESSENTIALS OF CORRECTIONS Chapter 2 – History of Punishments & Corrections INTRODUCTION How have societies dealt with offenders through the ages? This depends on which era you are referring to. Generally punishments throughout history tended to make the flesh suffer for the acts of the criminal, protect those in power, and exploit the labor of law-breakers. • Ancient Greeks favored stoning and disemboweling offenders, but also crucified, garroted, and drowned criminals when they felt appropriate. • In ancient Rome, the state beheaded certain enemies of the Republic with ceremony. Garden variety criminals in ancient Rome were often stoned or buried alive. • Medieval English and French monarchs had their enemies disemboweled. In the Middle Ages, English and French monarchs began to cut the heads of traitors. • In the Renaissance, the favor was to the gallows as capital punishment. • By the late eighteenth century a more humane method of execution was found. A machine that would shear the heads from bodies. Dr. Guillotin • Late nineteenth early twentieth century offenders were being sent to penal colonies, to punish offenders. EARLY HISTORY If someone violated a minor rule, the punishment was usually mild, and carried out immediately by the entire community. A thief whole stole a bowl of fruit, for example, might be required to supply the victimized family with fruit over prescribed period. Reconciliation – Is restoring balance; in the tribal context, it meant restoring the balance among victim, perpetrator, and the larger group. • Of the 282 clauses of the Code of Hammurabi, about 50 reveal Babylonian responses were common; so was the lex talions, the principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth • The inclusion of the lex talionis in the Law of Moses is not surprising: “Your eye shall not pity; it shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot!” • Draco a 17th century politician was known for his harsh punishments. He claims that he set the punishment of death for most offences because they deserved it, and he had not great punishment for more important ones. • Draco’s legacy of codified laws were publicly displayed for all to see and interpreted only by the courts – cannot be denied. ROMAN LAW • Evolved slowly over the centuries • Two legal systems emerged – jus civile, relationships with Romans – jus gentium, laws for foreigners • Later they enacted jus honorarium, allowed decisions of magistrates to supplement and correct existing law • This basically was the basis for case law j • Canon Law, the law that governs churches, especially the Roman Catholic Church • Legal customs of ancient Germanic tribes were called lex salica • Set out a schedule of monetary compensation for wrongdoing called botes • This was basically restitution that was paid to avoid a blood feud • Lex salica and lex talionis were different as every offense had a monetary value • Violations of the king’s peace – crimes committed in the king’s presence or against one of his officers – often resulted in fines 10 times the normal amount or death • In London’s royal prison, inmates paid jailers fees for food, fuel, and bedding; these fees were regulated by public law. This practice continued throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and eventually brought to American colonies • Punishments that were popular in England: – Stocks – were timbers with holes cut for feet and hands. The person in the stocks was seated on the ground or on a small stool. • Pillory – consisted of wood timbers set on a post with restraining holes for head and hands cut into the timbers. • Public Whipping – may be the oldest and most widely used form of corporal punishment in the world. • Pressing – was a particularly gruesome form of corporal punishment; it was used to convince suspected offenders to confess. • In 1557, Bridewell opened, an English Workhouse. This became a national model and every country on England was ordered to build a Birdwell-style workhouse. The guiding principle here was that by forcing people to work at difficult and unpleasant tasks, they would reform. • A highly structured form of exile or banishment, known as transportation was added to the death penalty as a method for removing offenders from society. • In 1718, Parliament modified the law allowing all convicts sentenced to 3 or more years imprisonment could choose transportation as indentured servants instead. THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT, THE STATE, AND CRIMINAL SANCTIONS • Natural Law – a system od rules and principles growing out of and conforming to human nature that can be discovered through reason without knowledge of or reference to society's artificial law. • This became to be known as the Age of Enlightenment formed by a group of philosophers in a nationalist movement Charles Montesquieu produced what is widely known as his greatest work, The Sprit of Laws (1748), he compared republican, despotic, and monarchical governments. He advocated the balance of power among judicial, executive, and legislative branches. The separation of powers, he believed would insure individual freedom. Cesare Beccaria believed that punishment can deter crime, but only if it is certain, swift, and severe. He also espoused many ideas – for example, the segregation of inmates by age, gender, and offense – that were radical in his day. His ideas were so radical in the day that he published them under an alias. Proposing humane and just treatment for prisoners – convicted or otherwise – was unpopular in the eighteenth century as it has been in recent times. PRISON REFORM AND PENITENTIARIES • Penitentiary Act of 1779 created a new class of institution that largely incorporated John Howard’s concerns about humane treatment, productive labor, and sanitary living conditions. • Those opposed to higher spending for prison inmates in the 18th and 19th centuries, were not that different from those today. Operating a humane prison costs too much money and prisoners deserve the lowest standard of living capable of sustaining life. • Benjamin Rush often spoke out against a series of changes in Pennsylvania’s penal law. Two concerns were that punishment should not be public and that offenders’ reformation could be achieved through punishment that encouraged penance. PENNSYLVANIA SYSTEM VERSUS THE AUBURN SYSTEM • Historians agree that throughout most of the first half of the nineteenth century, two prison systems vied for the attention of penal reformers in the nation and the world, the Pennsylvania system and the Auburn (New York) system. • The Pennsylvania system was an imprisonment method in which offenders were kept in solitary confinement. The prisons looked like a stone wheel turned on its side, extending outward like spokes from a central rotunda. • Few states adopted this system of solitary confinement by architectural design; even Pennsylvania abandoned the system in 1913. • The Auburn system came about after the American Revolution. This system would compete and eventually replace the Pennsylvania system. In 1796, the New York State legislature , abolished capital punishment for all offenses except first degree murder and treason. • The initial design of the Auburn Prison, includes two man cell wings: the prison’s south cell wing had both two person cells and congregate cells housing large groups of inmates; prisoners in the north cell wing were isolated in single-person cells. • After a riot in 1821, William Brittin, the prison’s first warden, rebuilt the north cell wing with solitary cells, each 7 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 7 feet high, set back to back and arranged in five tiers of 40 cells each. • Guards at Auburn prison strictly enforced a rigid silent system: inmates marched, worked, and ate in complete silence. Other innovations, such as the infamous lockstep shuffle, lasted well into the twentieth century. • The black and white stripped uniform also originated at Auburn prison, a dress code that survived well into the 1950s in some state prisons. • Hard work, social isolation, strict regimentation, the silent system, and corporal punishment are chrematistics of a correctional philosophy that , along with its unique architectural design, we know as the Auburn system. Was this system a success? When you look at how many other state prisons adopted these traits then you would have to sya it was a success. Elements of the Auburn system were used well into the twentieth century. • The legacy of the Auburn system is hard to deny. Modern prisons continue to rely on strict regimentation by security staff to maintain control in prison environments. The big house layout is another legacy, one and two person cells stacked in tiers and enclosed by high stone walls and guard towers. Another element was the classification system on inmates by security-risk levels. PRISON REFORM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY • Penal colonies were isolated areas used for confinement of convicted offenders; in most, geography or topography provided the means of confinement and control. • Captain Alexander Maconochie was a retired naval officer and he was chosen to be the superintendent of a penal colony at Van Diemen’s Land. • He began humanizing the facility when he arrived so the offenders would be better suited when they went back into society and not back into a life of crime. • Maconochie created a system of rewards – or marks of commendation – that were given to inmates for good behavior. If an inmate had a high enough number of marks he was then able to move freely about the colony or even a ticket to leave, early release. Misbehavior earned the offender a loss of marks, instead of the whip. • Penal Servitude Act of 1853 was part of the reorganization of the English penal system. Key part of the act was parole – the early release of prisoners to the supervisor of local law enforcement. • The Irish Prison System created the Irish ticket-of-leave system, consisted of four stages. • 1st 3 months of solitary confinement, reduced rations, and no work. • 2nd Working with other inmates on the island earned marks to move to the third stage. • 3rd Inmates now worked in a open prison, few restrictions and reduced security presence. • 4th Inmates given a conditional release from prison • Only inmates serving 3 or more years were eligible for the Irish system • The most famous French penal colony, part of which was located on Devil’s Island in French Guiana. • In 1870, the National Prison Association ( later the American Correctional Association), under the leadership of its first president, Rutherford B. Hayes, who later became US president, held its first National Congress on Penitentiary and Reformatory Discipline in Cincinnati. More than 130 delegates representing 24 states, Canada, and South America attended the congress. The graduated release systems developed by Maconochie and Crofton were the centerpiece of the discussion. • The Medical Model of corrections was the dominant approach to prisoner management in the early twentieth century. They used group therapy and behavior modification as their treatments of choice. They would add education and vocational training in hopes of giving the offender a better chance to make it in society. • Rehabilitation – the process of returning offenders to orderly or acceptable behaviors, became the primary goal of the nations corrections systems. • Reintegration – a popular concept in the 1970s, provided a bridge between institution and community. Reintegration advocates understood the importance of minimizing the problems inmates encountered as they moved from a restrictive lifestyle to a free one. • A punishment model in which offenders take responsibility for their own actions was known as the Justice Model. It rests on the assumption that individuals have free will: they choose to violate laws and so deserve to be punished. In this model rehabilitation should not be a primary goal. • In the mid to late 1980s, long term incarceration became a necessity for many so called career criminals, to limit their ability to commit new crimes. State and Federal Legislators began to limit the early release of offenders from prison and passed habitual-offender statutes that would send them to prison for life.
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Running head: ANALYSIS OF THE SENTENCING GUIDELINES

A FOCUS ON SENTENCING GUIDELINES

NAME

INSTITUTION AFFILIATION

1

SENTENCING GUIDELINES

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Sentencing Guidelines

It needs to be said that for the last two decades, there has been doubt over the
constitutionality of the sentencing guidelines in the US. The Congress has been validly accused
of creating a complex system with an aim to “eliminate disparities and increase certainty in
sentencing federal defendants” (Hofer & Allenbaugh, 2013). Under such a system, the judges are
supposed to integrate numerical guidelines before coming up with the individual sentences to be
given. However, the problem is that the problem is that in most instances, the sentencing is
usually based on new information, which in most cases, is not brought to the attention of the
jury. There has been a systematic argument by defense lawyers and federal judges that the
sentencing guidelines are often too stringent and openly harsh.
Interestingly, most of the cases which have made their way to the Supreme Court has
been decided that it is the jury, rather than the juries, who should make the ruling, by considering
on the facts which should be considered to lower or increase the sentences of the defendants. It
shows that there is a discord and mismatch, which can be seen on the ongoing legality of giving
the death penalty to 16 and 17 year old delinquents. It has led to the argument of such a guideline
being ‘cruel and harsh’ which is in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
One of the issues that come out of the sentencing guidelines is to on how the judge’s
discretionary in the court process. In 2007, in an 8-1 ruling, the Supreme Court decided that the
need to adhere to the sentencing guidelines “simply recognizes the real-world circumstance that
when the judge's discretionary decision accords with the Commission's view . . . it is probable
that the sentence is reasonable” (Ogletree Jr, 2007). It means that there is a need to have an
understanding on what such a premise implies. The whole idea of having ...


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