Running head: SENTENCING PAPER

Sentencing Paper Amber Bohman CJS/200 December 1, 2013 Scott Smith

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Sentencing Paper Sentencing is the imposition of a criminal sanction by a judicial authority. (Schmalleger, 2011, p. 372) Sentencing can be all types of things. One of the things that is included in sentencing is punishment. Punishment is what is given to defendants who have broken the law. In some cases, defendants do not make it to court and they do not get sentenced. Some cases are dismissed and those are the ones that usually do not make it to the sentencing stage. There are other types of sentences which include fines, probation, imprisonment, and in some cases and certain states even death. The five philosophical reasons for sentencing criminals are punishment for their crime, rehabilitation, to set an example to others for crime, prevention of crime by having consequences, and guidelines to live by within a society. The four main types of punishment are retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation, and incapacitation. Retribution is the punishment where revenge is taken out on the offender or defendant. This type of punishment is one of the earliest forms of punishment. The punishment of deterrence is where the authorities (police officers, judges, etc.) threaten the defendants with punishment. With this form of punishment, there is no actually punishment just threatening of punishment. Rehabilitation is the attempt to reform a criminal offender. Also, the state in which a reformed offender is said to be. (Schmalleger, 2011, p. 375) Rehabilitation is also used in the medical field for addicts as well as for people that have injured themselves. Incapacitation is the use of imprisonment or other means to reduce the likelihood that an offender will commit future offenses. (Schmalleger, 2011, p. 374) Forms of incapacitation are prison, jail, probation, and halfway houses. This form of punishment would be the most affective because it separates the offenders from the general public, and it allows for the civilians to feel safer.

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The relationship between sentencing and punishment is that they both work together as one. If it were not for one or the other than the court system could not be whole. The reason for that is if there were not any punishments then criminals would just keep repeating the offenses. The reason is the sentencing will decide what type of punishment that the defendant will receive. When somebody commits a crime they will receive punishment depending on the type of crime that they have committed. Some punishments and sentences are harsher than others because some crimes are harsher than other ones. For example, when a person gets sentenced for murder then their punishment is going to be worse than someone who is punished for stealing a car. Punishment comes after the sentencing and if there were no sentencing then a defendant really could not be punished for anything. During a sentencing hearing, the punishment is usually given to the defendant depending on the severity of the crime committed. The biggest recommendation for modifying the sentencing process to reduce recidivism rates is to make the process more stringent. If the sentencing process were more stringent then there would be fewer cases that would get dismissed because all criminals that have committed a crime would be punished. This may however only be a good idea for a short period of time considering that the court systems could become overloaded with cases that do not need a lot of attention. There seems to be many cases that get little or no punishment that really should. With those cases, I believe that those offenders are more likely to repeat the offenses because they got off so easily the first time, or multiple times. Another recommendation for modifying the sentence process would to have more halfway houses or have a plan for criminals being released out of jail or prison. If there was a better plan for criminals after prison then I think that they would have an easier time transitioning into a community as a better civilian. One of the things that could really help a criminal before they get released is to help them get a job lined up after

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their release date and even possibly a stable living place (if a halfway house is not available). With the help from those two things, I think criminals would be less likely to offend again after they are released from prison or jail.

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References Schmalleger, F. (2011). Criminal justice today: An introductory text for the twenty-first century (11th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ. Pearson Prentice Hall.