Mandatory Sentencing

Recommended Prison Policy Hello Sir/Madam in this report one will examine the importance of suggesting new recommendations for increasing the maximum prison sentence for offenders convicted of aggravated robbery, known as armed robbery. One will address issues of why our state legislature should consider changing the existing prison terms of those found guilty of armed robbery. As well address, the reason one believes this responsibility lays in the hands of legislators instead of judges, or parole boards. By examining the severity of armed robbery, rate of recidivism, budget needs, on crime, one will suggest that the minimum amount of time an offender of armed robbery is incarcerated should be increased. Severity of Armed Robbery One reason one believes the amount of time of incarceration should be increased for armed robbery is because the severity of the violent crime.

(2004a, January). Evolving Standards of Decency. Retrieved May 22, 2010, from Cruel and Unusual Punishment: The Juvenile Death Penalty: http://www.abanet.org/crimjust/juvjus/EvolvingStandards.pdf ---, (2004b, January). Adoloscence, Brain Development and Legal Cupability. Retrieved May 2010, from American Bar Association: http://www.abanet.org/crimjust/juvjus/Adolescence.pdf Streib, V. L. (2004, April).

This increase in crime led many Americans believing in the need to be tougher on crime. The government decided to use the method of mass incarceration, believing on the fundamentals of incapacitation and deterrence. Incapacitation refers to the restriction of an individual 's freedoms and liberties that they would normally have in society (study.com). This response is typically used when a person has committed a crime, and will head to prison. Deterrence is the inhibition of criminal behavior by fear especially of punishment (Webster).

From here the cycle of crime, arrest, jail, and return to society continues, solving absolutely nothing. Therefore, placing drug-addicted offenders in jails fails to confront the major problem at hand which is that of the drug abuse. If drug-addicted offenders were placed in drug treatment centers instead of being incarcerated, the problem of drug abuse would have a much higher opportunity to be flushed from the offender's life. Thus, the chance of that the offender would commit another crime for drugs would be reduced. The felonies that were committed by these drug addicts are usually due to the fact that they want to help fill their cravings for the drug.

5) While that sounds great in theory, the problem arises when the public is unaware of these laws. If the punishment for breaking a law in unknown, than the fear for breaking the law is nowhere to be found. According to Dr. Mulhausen, mandatory minimum drug sentences are necessary for combatting indeterminate sentences done by judges. With these indeterminate sentences, Dr. Mulhausen feared that judges were giving criminals a second chance at life at the expense of the safety of the ppublic. By doing this, criminals who should have been spending time in jail, were let free and often went on to victimize others instead of using their second chance for good.

Correctional agencies do not control the number of minorities who enter their facilities. Therefore, the disparity must come from decisions made earlier in the criminal justice process. Law enforcement, court pre-sentencing policies and procedures, and sentencing all have a direct affect on the overrepresentation of minorities in the correctional population. The prospect of a racially discriminatory process violates the ideals of equal treatment under law under which the system is premised (Kansal, 2005). Law enforcement, as the frontline of the criminal justice system has a great deal to do with who ends up being incarcerated.

These seem like cut and dry functions, but as of late some believe that prisons in the United States have failed in their attempts to separate and rehabilitate. Not only do prisons separate the criminals from the innocent, to be effective, according to Lappin and Greene, they must also separate the criminals from the worse criminals. Convicts in prison for non-violent offenses are not supposed to be housed with violent offenders. “Unfortunately, our prisons are becoming more and more overcrowded maki... ... middle of paper ... ... abuse offender policy options. (The field works.).

Mandatory minimums, harsh prison sentences imposed on offenders by law, where discretion is limited. Offenders, most of the time nonviolent, are faced with prison terms that are meant for a drug kingpin, not a low level first or second time offender. Mandatory minimums have been proven not to be the answer in our criminal justice system and need to be changed. Mandatory Minimums has created a problem within our society where we send everyone to prison and don 't present offenders with better opportunities. We have turned into a society focused on retribution and deterrence, and have forgotten about rehabilitation.

These people are then introduced to major offenders, who have not been rehabilitated and become worse than their "mentors." For these people, even if they feel that their criminal existence is indeed a moral wrong, prison does nothing to make them repent or change their way of life. A poorly planned criminal justice program can incapacitate the goals of reintegration of ex-criminal into society. With the way things are in prison prisoners are c... ... middle of paper ... ...way to isolate such individuals from the latter and help them instead of turning them into hardened criminals. Prison life and the exclusive association with other criminals is a training school for a life of crime for the majority of petty criminals.

He fails to provide reasonable support for his argument which leaves the reader guessing as to the seriousness of his claim. Jacoby starts his essay by providing a background history on flogging by relating the punishment to crimes that would be insignificant in today’s society. He claims that imprisonment has become an “all purpose punishment” used for violent and nonviolent crimes alike (193). Citing a plethora of facts and research, Jacoby argues that the prison system is ineffective and too costly. To support his claim he advocates for a system of public humiliation and degradation to deter lower class criminals from becoming repeat offenders.