STREET LAW

UNIT 2: Criminal Law and Juvenile Justice

Chapter 15

Criminal Justice Process: Sentencing and Corrections

Sentencing & corrections are the final phases of the criminal justice process

Once found guilty, a defendant will be sentenced by a judge or a jury (depending on individual state law)

The sentence is the most critical decision in the process, as it can determine a defendant’s fate for years or even life

There are several sentencing options, ranging from a suspended sentence & probation to imprisonment, or even death

Criminal sentences serve a number of purposes, including retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, & incapacitation

Once the defendant has been sentenced, he or she enters the corrections system

Several treatment or punishment options are available:Community correctionsHalfway housesJails, &Prisons

The convict’s entry back into society after his or her sentence has been served can be a difficult adjustment

To help with this transition, the U.S. Dept. of Justice has developed a program called reentry that provides support & mentoring relationships between convicts & counselors

Sentencing  

Most criminal statutes set out basic guidelines for sentencing, but judges generally have considerable say in determining the appropriate sentence for a defendant

Judges may have several options for sentencing

These options include:suspending the sentence—or allowing the

defendant to serve the sentence at a later time; releasing the defendant to the supervision of a

probation officer; & sentencing the defendant to serve his or her time

at home

A judge may also issue a fine, require the defendant to pay back the victim for harm caused, or allow the defendant to work in the community during the day but return to prison at night or on weekends

The most severe sentences a judge may impose are imprisonment & death

In response to public concerns about judges who were “soft on crime,” some states have moved toward determinate sentencing

This approach does not allow the broad discretion formerly allowed to judges in sentencing criminal defendants

Under the determinate sentencing approach, criminals are sentenced on the basis of an offender score

Rather than tailoring the sentence to the individual circumstances of the offender & considering the potential for rehabilitation, the judge sentences offenders within a limited range of punishment based on the seriousness of their present offense & their prior criminal record

Judges can only go outside the range of punishment if specific mitigating or aggravating circumstances are found

Generally, the sentence becomes eligible for appeal when it goes outside the range of punishment

Some judges, lawyers, & others are critical of sentencing guidelines & determinate sentencing

They say it takes away from judges the discretion that they need to make fair sentencing decisions

States have also passed:Mandatory prison terms for crimes like narcotics & firearm

offenses & murderSentence “enhancements” for specific situations, i.e.,

when guns are involved in the crimeHabitual offender laws that give mandatory minimum

sentences to habitual offendersThree Strikes LawsLaws creating a civil commitment process for those

sexual predators, in which the convicted are confined in a locked treatment facility once their criminal sentence has been served

In addition, federal & state laws have lengthened confinement times for violent, sexual, & drug crimes

These statutes have all contributed to prison overcrowding

Home Confinement:The advantages to a sentence of home confinement

are that the offender does not have to spend time behind bars & can maintain his or her job or school responsibilities

This approach may be less expensive than prisonThe disadvantages to such a sentence are that the

offender cannot leave his or her home except for essential purposes (work, school, doctor’s appointments) & that he or she must wear a monitoring device

Purposes of Punishment& Parole  

There are four general reasons given for punishing convicted defendants:RetributionDeterrenceRehabilitation& Incapacitation

Retribution is the idea that punishment should involve some form of payback ("an eye for an eye")

Deterrence is the concept that punishment will discourage others from engaging in future criminal activities

Rehabilitation is the idea that time in prison will allow the prisoner to change his or her ways & learn how to function as a productive member of society

Incapacitation removes the individual from society in order to make the community safe from the threat he or she posed

Parole 

Parole is the release of a convicted person from prison before his or her entire sentence has been served

Parole is a privilege granted to those convicts who seem to have reformed & appear ready to rejoin society

Capital Punishment

Technically, capital punishment means imposition of the death penalty or life imprisonment

However, we tend to think of capital punishment only in terms of the death penalty

The U.S. Supreme Court typically hears several cases each term of the death penalty

Courts must look at aggravating & mitigating circumstances before imposing the death penalty

The capital punishment cases mentioned in the text are: Furman v. Georgia, & Lockett v. Ohio

In Buchanan v. Angelone, the Supreme Court ruled that the trial judge’s failure to instruct the jury on the concept of mitigation in general, as well as about specific mitigating factors, did not violate the defendant’s rights

The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of capital punishment under certain circumstances

The Court has also considered the issue of whether someone who did not actually pull the trigger of the gun can receive the death penalty

In Enmund v. Florida the defendant had driven the getaway car after his cohorts robbed & shot to death an elderly couple

Under state law, this was felony murder punishable by life imprisonment or death

The Court reasoned that Enmund’s lack of intent & his physical absence during the killings would make the death sentence cruel & unusual punishment

Congress passed the Anti-Terrorism & Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) in 1996

Under this law, if a state is certified as providing adequate representation for death row inmates in post-conviction relief proceedings, a faster appeals process is established

As of 1999, no state had qualified as providing adequate representation for death row inmates

There has been significant debate over this law

Critics, including the American Bar Assoc. (ABA), state that in the same year Congress passed this law, it eliminated federal funding to organizations that provide services to poor defendants

The ABA also notes that the one-year statute of limitations for filing federal habeas petitions set by the AEDPA left indigent defendants with little time & scarce resources to file for appeals

In 2003, officials in CA estimated that the state spent $90 million on death penalty trials & confinement

This amount was beyond the ordinary costs incurred for trials in which life imprisonment was the harshest possible sentence

According to a 2002 report, the cost of the death penalty in Indiana was 38% greater than the total cost of life-w/o-parole sentences

Idaho reported similar findings in 2003, saying that it costs taxpayers app. $1 million to imprison someone for life, compared to nearly $5 million to impose the death penalty

Public Opinion & the Death Penalty

A May 2002 Gallup Poll revealed support for the death penalty was high (the highest since May 1995) with 74% of Americans in favor & 24% in opposition to the death penalty for those convicted of murder

When given the choice of life imprisonment with “. . . absolutely no possibility of parole,” or the death penalty as punishment for murder, 53% favored death while 44% opted for life imprisonment

The Gallup Poll also indicated that one’s political affiliation can affect his or her position on capital punishmentFor example, 62% of political conservatives

favored the death penalty & 36% favored life imprisonment

In contrast, 37% of political liberals favored the death penalty, while 60% tended to favor life imprisonment

Level of education also appears to play a role in one’s preference for capital punishment

Individuals with a postgraduate education indicated a preference for life imprisonment (62%), while those with a high school education or less leaned toward the death penalty (56%)

A majority of Americans felt that the death penalty is applied fairly, & 48% said that the death penalty is not imposed often enough in the U.S.

Who’s on Death Row?

The ABA calls the U.S. justice system “a haphazard maze of unfair practices with no internal consistency”

It cites a growing concern about recently enacted federal & state laws that have limited appeals for death row inmates & funding for death row appeals

The ABA’s Death Penalty Representation Project is designed to reverse the U.S.’s “fatally flawed” administration of the death penalty

Through the project, the ABA seeks to establish a national standard of practice that ensures every capital defendant receives a fair trial & competent legal representation: “Absent that, any resulting conviction is, by definition, unjust”

The ABA has called for an immediate ban on the death penalty “unless & until greater fairness & due process prevail”

Corrections  

There are several treatment & punishment options available to the government, including halfway houses, mental facilities, & prisons

Some aspects of the correctional system also focus on preparing the prisoner to re-enter society

Race & Corrections

In 2003, the Maryland state legislature commissioned a study which produced the following results:In 2002, African Americans nationally were

incarcerated at 7x the rate of Whites, & Latinos were incarcerated at 2.5x the rate of Whites

African Americans & Latinos comprised 68% of all prisoners in 2002, even though African Americans & Latinos together make up just 25% of the U.S. population

If incarceration rates continue at the 2001 level, 1 in 17 White men (5.9%), 1 in 6 Latino men (17%), & 1 in 3 African American men (32%) born in 2001 will serve time in prison at some point in their lives

While Whites & African Americans use drugs at similar rates, African Americans represented 28% of the Maryland pop., but represented 68% of those arrested for drug offenses & 90% of those incarcerated for a drug offense in 2001

In 2002, <1% of White men were incarcerated in Maryland, whereas 5.6% of the African American male pop. of the state were incarcerated

Over half (56%) of all young African American men in Baltimore were under some form of criminal justice control

The report also discusses some of the complex reasons why minorities are overrepresented in the prison system:Minorities tend to be arrested for certain behaviors

more often than Whites even though both groups commit the same crimes at the same rates

Whites may have better access to drug treatment facilities, which can reduce the likelihood of drug-related offenses

Whites may have access to better legal representation

Sentences for Latinos & African Americans tend to be longer than sentences for Whites

These data tend to raise questions about bias against African Americans & Latinos in the criminal justice system, especially in law enforcement’s anti-drug efforts

The impact of these facts is far-reaching, including one report that noted that 1 in 7, or 14%, of African American males is either currently or permanently unable to vote due to a felony conviction

The issue of disproportionate minority confinement presents many critical issues for the criminal justice system & for society as a wholeFor example, if people perceive they will not be treated

fairly, they may be less likely to cooperate at various stages of the criminal justice process—from coming forward & testifying as witnesses to serving on juries

The problem also threatens the validity of judicial decisions among members of minority & majority communities alike . . . [It] challenges the basic American assumption that everyone receives “equal justice under law”

The Prison System Political leaders face tough choices about how to keep

their communities safe Many politicians know that their voters want them to

be tough on crime, & one way to do that is to increase the number of prisons

Advocates say the growth in the number of prisons & jails is good for communities because new facilities ease overcrowding & make it possible to put more dangerous people behind bars & away from society

New prisons & jails also result in more jobs & boost local economies

Opponents think the expense of building more prisons is not justified in light of the trade-offsFor example, they suggest that putting more tax

money into schools, drug treatment programs, & job training would result in fewer criminals

Jails Versus Prisons Courts have held that pretrial inmates cannot be

subjected to conditions that amount to punishment, since they have not been found guilty

Inmates who have been convicted cannot be subjected to conditions that amount to cruel & unusual punishment

Despite this theoretical difference between the rights of pretrial inmates & convicted inmates, the rights are generally the same in jail as in prison

However, pretrial detainees have not been found guilty, & therefore their rights cannot be limited in the interest of rehabilitative efforts

Reentry Ex-offenders face the challenges of reconnecting with

the outside world They must rebuild the trust of their friends & families,

find a place to live, find a job, & learn how to live as law-abiding citizens

Law-related education programs can play a significant role in helping offenders return to society by helping them negotiate the rules & laws of communities

Specific lessons might feature employment, housing, child abuse & neglect, police procedures, community problem solving, etc.

Reentry programs can & should utilize community resource people like lawyers, judges, & police officers in order to help people build trust & learn how to access resources in their communities