Sentencing Philosophies The four sentencing philosophies of the American Criminal Justice System are retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation and incapacitation. Each is grounded in a set of beliefs that address the relationship between the severity of a crime and the purpose of the sentence. Retribution is based on the belief that the sentence should be imposed according to the severity of the crime committed. A common expression used to describe this philosophy is, "an eye for an eye." According to this philosophy, no other circumstances, such as the influence of a psychological illness, are considered in the sentencing. Deterrence is based on the belief that fear of...
Prison sentences, or a heavy fine, are examples of sentences that apply to this philosophy, which is essentially grounded in fear. Rehabilitation believes that fixing the causes of the offense, that is the specific problems of the offender, will reduce the risk of future crimes. The sentence under this philosophy would be probation, individualized therapy and community service orders. Finally, the philosophy of incapacitation is based on the most logical conclusion. An offender is made incapable of committing further crime if he is sentenced to a long prison sentence. The…
Judicial Process The 6th Amendment Confrontation Clause exists to protect the right of a defendant to confront those who are testifying against him or her. This means that the defendant has the right to face those making the accusations in a court of law (Revolutuionary War and Beyond, 2011). There are two main purposes to the Confrontation Clause. The defendant receives protection from statements made outside the court that can be
The district appeals court does not hear a case in its entritiy, rather the justices review the case file and lawyer's arguments and hear a short in-person argument to ask questions and make a decision. This appeal is an appeal by right according to the Constitution, and anyone who appeals to their district's court of appeals will have their case reviewed. Here, the appeals courts in all five cases,
Third, the degree to which the suspect is confronted with apparent evidence of guilt; this means that it is impermissible to confront the suspect with the evidence to suggest that there is no point in refusing to confess. Fourth, whether the suspect is advised and made aware that he or she may freely terminate the conversation and/or request to be represented by legal counsel; this means that the voluntariness
For example, there is currently a case in Florida were a 50-year-old woman shot and killed her teenage son and daughter. She said she did it because they were "mouthy" to her and she was tired of it. There is no word yet on whether she will plead insanity, but there is evidence that she purchased a gun days before the shooting occurred (Brennan, 2011). That could block her
Another example of an exception to the Miranda Rule concerns surreptitious questioning as in the case of Illinois v. Perkins (1990) (2003). In this case it was decided that a criminal suspect's 5th Amendment rights are not being violated if a suspect is speaking with an undercover police officer and incriminating information is given to the undercover police (2003). Essentially speaking, Miranda Rights are not necessary when a criminal
judicial process for a felony criminal charge that is filed in both federal and state courts. The paper includes all the steps that exist between the arrests right through to the pre-trial, trial and appeal. All the contingencies for the various stages are handled and the possibilities of all the outcomes examined. The paper is chronologically organized in order to provide an analysis of how the constitutional protection for
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