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Sentencing in the criminal justice system
Sentencing in the criminal justice system
Punishment and sentencing in the United States
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Crime and Popular Culture Take Home Test 1. The connection between Crime Law and Popular Culture is reciprocal and full of events. Its nature gets the most obvious during the historical periods when new particular Crime Laws are launched that are aimed to reshape a state of a popular culture (for example, a prohibition of alcohol that shaped the look and feel of American Mafia) or among the most borderline marginal popular cultures (for example, hip hop culture of 1990th). Therefore, as well as Crime Law often structures the marginal cultures that act on borderline of law, the activity of certain popular culture group may influence changes in Criminal Law. A significant part of modern popular culture centers on topics of criminal world and/or crime investigation. This topic concerns literally all genres of popular entertainment, from movies and series to TV-broadcasting and popular music. The history of silent cinema literally begun with Grand Train Robbery that launched the genre of Western, which continued to explore the notion of Law and Jurisdiction during historical era of colonization of Wild West for a century. Criminal Drama generally continue to be one of the most successful cinematographic genres both in a form of detective story (especially …show more content…
cases of “Sunny” Jacobs, Jesse Tafero and Walter Rhodes, etc. These cases reveal the flaws of American justice system, since the sentences involving plea bargain are given without proper evidences, the defendants are often forced to them by lawyers, and, moreover, these sentences are hard to cancel even if the further investigation reveals a real criminal. The case of Jessee Tafero and Walter Rhodes is especially representative one because of its unfortunate consequences and the nature of the crime that seems to be unclear even after plea bargain of a defendant and the confession of a supposed
Ethics is “a branch of philosophy concerned with the study of questions of right and wrong and how we ought to live” (Banks, 2013). Also it involves making moral judgments about what is right and or wrong, good or bad. In the process of everyday life, moral rules are desirable, not because they express absolute truth, but because they are generally reliable guides for normal circumstances. Ethics or moral conduct, are of major importance in the criminal justice field today. If the police force condoned unethical behavior, there would be very little, if any, justice being served. A system of rules and principles helps to guide in making difficult decisions when moral issues arise. Ethics has been shown to be a central component in decisions involving ethical dilemmas. It is “concerned with standards of conduct and with “how I ought to act”, and standards of conduct may vary among different societies” (Banks, 2013). An ethical dilemma arises only when a decision must be made that involves a conflict at the personal, interpersonal, institutional, or societal level or raises issues of moral character. Richard Hare argues that we initially use an intuitive level of moral thinking when we consider ethical dilemma. There are “six steps in analyzing an ethical dilemma and they would be as follow” (NASW, 2014):
Plea bargaining has emerged very early in history, and it has played an important role in the contemporary criminal justice system. Indeed, plea bargaining is a “necessary evil” because it brings advantage to all sides including the prosecutor, defendant and the court judges. Its necessity does not constitute its constitutionality, however, and plea bargaining should be limited in certain cases because it can be problematic in various aspects. In light of its inevitability, a categorization system can be employed to limit the use of plea bargaining and ensure its fair use, and that there should be specific guidelines of plea bargaining in each category of crime. In this paper, the definition and necessity of plea bargaining as well as its potential problems are discussed first. Then the paper would introduce the categorization system that originated from a comparative perspective. The specifics of the system would be discussed, and finally, its limitations and suggested further research or development.
Crime Scenario: This case is about a missing 9 year old boy who lives with his mother, younger sister, and his mother 's boyfriend. The child has been missing for over 24 hours and the boyfriend seems very protective of the mother and answers most of the questions about the disappearance. The scene is overwrought with the media, neighbors, and volunteers offering to help with the search for the missing boy.
Steve Bogira, a prizewinning writer, spent a year observing Chicago's Cook County Criminal Courthouse. The author focuses on two main issues, the death penalty and innocent defendants who are getting convicted by the pressure of plea bargains, which will be the focus of this review. The book tells many different stories that are told by defendants, prosecutors, a judge, clerks, and jurors; all the people who are being affected and contributing to the miscarriage of justice in today’s courtrooms.
One of the main reasons for the increased number of negotiated pleas is the difficulty of taking all cases to trial. The emphasis of the ethical concerns that arise from plea bargaining is on Kantian ethics. In relation to Kantian ethics, the issue that arise is guilty pleas made by innocent individuals and the voluntariness of all defendants to make the decision to plead guilty. Abolishment of the plea bargain could eventually do more harm than good. However, effective counsel resulting from ethical training can lead to the decline of wrongful
Crime and Everyday Life chapter two, The Chemistry for Crime outlines the various components of a crime. Noting that offenders are just one small element to any crime. In all honesty offenders are a variable waiting for time that all the elements are in place. Violent, predatory crimes only occur while an absence of guardians around a target. Clarke named the check list for a target or hot product as, concealable, removable, available, valuable, enjoyable, and disposable. Equally, fights develop in the absence of peacemakers and a present crowd. Illegal sales crime all depend on the setting that offers coverage and removed management. The Chemistry for Crime argues that everyday life tempts as well as diminishes the potential for crime, influencing
...g rent ("The Plea"). All of the horrible effects of what happened to Erma Stewart resulted from that plea bargain. The punishment of the innocent also occurs from the use of plea bargains because plea bargains cover up police or prosecutorial misconduct. For example, in Charlie Gampero's case that police investigation was sloppy and witnesses were inconsistent and because of the plea that was covered up. These cases illustrate the effects of plea bargaining on innocent people and how they are ineffective in the justice system.
66. Americans rank crime among the nations greatest problems. Crime can touch people of all lifestyles, race, and ethnicity. Public polls further illustrate that people in America remain fearful of crime without realizing that serious crime has declined since the record-setting years of the early 1980’s. However, many people still believe that crime rates are rising in United States. The news media and politicians help to keep the public’s attention focused on crime. This attention also keeps people fearful of crime in America. FBI data further supports that there is no national crime wave to fear. Most people will not experience crime directly but instead learn about it indirectly. Researchers believe that conversations with friends may help to magnify the amount of local violence. Fear of crime forces many Americans to “stay of the streets” and away from dangerous areas.
Parole (early release from prison) is often referred to as the back door to the US corrections system. The concept of parole dates back to the establishment of the Elmira Reformatory. The goal of the Elmira Reformatory was to rehabilitate and reform the criminal instead of following the traditional method of silence, obedience, and labor. Parole was originally set up to encourage prisoners to do well, keep their noses clean, and become model prisoners. Once a prisoner had shown rehabilitation and reform they were released prior to the execution of their full sentence.
There are multiple crime television shows that are based on a true story or fiction. A well known television show is Law and Order Special Victims Unit, which deals with rape and assault cases. This particular episode deals with a domestic violence case between a retired football star, AJ Martin, and his girlfriend, Paula Bryant. I will be using the National Crime Victimization Survey, which is an interview with the members in a household about reported and unreported crime that occurred within the last six months. “NVCS provides information of characteristics of victims, including age, race, ethnicity, gender, marital status and household income” (Truman and Morgan). Official statistics like the NCVS would be used for comparing its demographics
According to Rachel Boba, “Crime analysis is a law enforcement function that involves systematic analysis for identifying and analyzing patterns and trends in crime and disorder” (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime analysis).The information on these patterns can assist law enforcement agencies in the deployment of resources in a more effective manner; it can also help detectives to identify and catch suspects. Crime analysis also plays a role in improvising solutions to crime problems, and developing crime prevention strategies. There are various types of technology that is used in crime analysis. Crime analysis relies heavily on computer technology, and over the past fifteen years there has been a significant improvement in computer hardware and software that has led to tremendous developments in this field. One form of hardware that is used by Crime analysts to complete most of their work is Desktop personal computers, laptop computers are also used by crime analysts for fieldwork and presentations. Other forms of hardware that are used include color laser printers that can produce high-quality documents quickly, plotters which are printers that can produce large poster size color maps, scanners, and digital cameras, these specific types of hardware is mostly used by police departments when analyzing crime.
Law, ?a governmental social control? (Black 2), is a quantitative variable that changes in time and space and can be defined by style: penal, compensatory, therapeutic or conciliatory (Black 5). The brief description of law and its interrelation with social control and deviant behavior can be encapsulated in the following scheme. This concept of law put into the context of social life gives a framework of the behavior of law.
Media portrayal of crime and criminal justice has become incredibly widespread in the last decade, with crime often considered both a source of news and entertainment. As a source of entertainment, crime and criminal justice have emerged as central themes across various sources of media. Most individuals do not have any direct experience with the criminal justice system, so their only source of information on this topic is the media. Particularly in television shows, portrayals of crime and criminal justice can be seen in everything from courtroom dramas to nightly news programs. Indeed, the popularity of crime shows has lead to some of television’s most enduring series, such as Law and Order and CSI. Because of this, fictional
In all Australian legal jurisdictions, children under the age of ten are considered to be too young to have criminal intent. That means, that children under this age cannot be held legally responsible for their actions. Australia is the only region in the world to have uniform legal guidelines on the lower age limit of criminal responsibility. (Weijers, Grisso 2009 p.45). Having the presumption that children under the age of ten are unable to know the law completely, therefore not being able to have mens rea, is in my opinion, necessary in our criminal courts. This essay will look at the reasons for the necessary use of the minimum age of criminal responsibility, such as the Beijing rules, the convention
Television has seen plenty of producers, writers and viewers attracted to crime and deviance. The crime drama series is not an unchanging structure but develops in an intricate relationship with audiences, media institutions, social contexts and other genres. Crime drama series’ structure often begins with some strains to the social order by criminal forces. Historically police officers or “cops” are good and the criminals are bad. However today we can notice “bent” cops and sometimes sympathetic villains.