can you answer clearly?
CHAPTER 9
Sentencing
Introduction
- James Q. Wilson: “wicked people exist”
- Set them apart through imprisonment
- Thomas Hobbes: “in revenge and punishments men ought not to look at the greatness of evil past, but at the greatness of the good to follow”
- Sentencing should deter offenders
Goals of Sentencing
- Many reasons for imposing sanctions, may be contradictory
- Retribution
- Deterrence
- Incapacitation
- Rehabilitation
- Restoration
- Reasons not mutually exclusive, often overlap
Retribution
- Reflects society’s moral outrage at or disapproval of a crime
- Focus on crime, not individual
- Sentence proportionate to crime; balance harm caused by offender
Deterrence
- People are rational beings with free will who prefer pleasure over pain
- People weigh the benefits and cost of future actions before deciding to act
- Choose crime when benefits exceed costs
- Types of deterrence
- Specific deterrence: aimed at individual offenders
- General deterrence: aimed at potential offenders
Incapacitation
- Removal of offenders from the community through imprisonment or banishment
- Form of specific deterrence; prevents offenders from committing future crimes
- Selective incapacitation; focus on high-rate and dangerous career criminals
Rehabilitation
- Reforming an offender to become a productive member of society through treatment, education, or counseling
- Dominant philosophy during period of 1940s through the 1970s
- Identify causes of criminality, determine treatment likely to prevent reoffending
Proportionality
- Fairness: making the punishment fit the crime
- Ultimate determination of proportionality made by Supreme Court
Types of Sentences
- Primarily linked to particular offenses
- Specified by state and federal criminal codes
- Judges have wide range of sentencing options
Intermediate Sentences
- Intermittent incarceration
- Intense probation supervision
- Fines
- Community service
- Restitution
- Forfeiture
Indeterminate Prison Sentences
- Establishes minimum and maximum number of years to be served
- Actual time for release determined by a parole board
Determinate or Structured Prison Sentences
- Fixed terms of imprisonment
- Emerged as a result of the sentencing reform movement in the 1970s
- Goals
- Eliminate sentencing disparities
- Create system of uniform sentences
- Redistribute time served in prison
Presumptive Sentencing
- Range of minimum and maximum terms of incarceration
- Judge determines specific number of years served within range
- May depart from presumptive sentence if aggravating or mitigating factors exist
Sentencing Guidelines
- Limit judge’s discretion to impose disparate sentences for similar offenders
- Deemphasize rehabilitation as a primary goal in sentencing
- Guidelines direct judge to determine sentence by weighing offender’s criminal history against severity of current offense
Mandatory Sentences
- Require imprisonment of offenders who are convicted of certain types of serious crimes
- Mandatory minimum sentences established enhanced prison terms for particular crimes
Habitual Offender Statutes
- Three-strikes laws
- Require longer sentences for offenders convicted of a third violent felony
- Unintended consequences
- Positive association with homicide rates
- Disproportionately harsh effects on African Americans
Truth in Sentencing
- Require that offenders and especially violent offenders serve at least 85% of their sentences
- Establish closer correspondence between judicially imposed sentences and actual time served in prison
Concurrent and Consecutive Sentences
- Concurrent sentences
- Multiple sentences served at the same time
- Consecutive sentences
- Multiple sentences served one after another
Arriving at an Appropriate Sentence
- Sentencing a difficult decision for judges
- Consider three interrelated questions
- What are the appropriate goals of sentencing and how should they be weighed?
- How can sentencing goals be achieved under the circumstances of the case?
- What specific sentence is justified given facts of the case?
The Presentence Investigation Report (PSI)
- Widely believed to be the cornerstone of sentencing decisions
- Comprehensive report on offender background, offense, other relevant information
- Helps the court understand the nature of the crime within the context of the offender’s life
- Based on interviews with offender, family members, employers, friends, police reports, victim statements
The Sentencing Hearing
- Felony sentencing takes place at sentencing hearing
- Offender may deny, explain, add to information in PSI report
- Prosecutor may make sentence recommendations
- Bifurcated trial required in sentencing of offenders convicted of capital crimes
Role of the Victim in Sentencing
- Victims permitted to submit victim impact statements (VIS); oral or written
- Justifications for VIS at sentencing
- Criticisms of VIS
Disparity and Discrimination in Sentencing
- Determinate sentencing reduces sentencing disparity but does not eliminate it
- Sentencing disparities occur when similar cases are sentenced differently
- Sentencing discrimination exists when illegitimate morally objectionable or extralegal factors are taken into account in the sentencing decisions
Disparity and Discrimination in Sentencing
- Race/ethnicity: African Americans disproportionately receive prison sentences
- Gender: Women find increasing leniency at all stages of system
- Socioeconomic status: Poor defendants less able to post bail, may lead to disadvantage at sentencing
- Age: Research mixed, but recent study found no significant relationship between offender age and length of sentence
Capital Punishment
- Between 1977 and 2014, more than 1,394 executions in the United States
- Average of 38 executions each year
- Peaked in 1999, when 98 persons were executed
Number of Persons Executed in the United States, 1977–2014
Source: Snell, T. (2014). Capital punishment, 2014—Statistical tables. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State.
Supreme Court Decisions
- Furman v. Georgia (1972)
- McCleskey v. Kemp (1972)
- Gregg v. Georgia (1976)
- Coker v. Georgia (1977)
- Kennedy v. Louisiana (2008)
Supreme Court Decisions
- Perry v. Lynaugh (1989)
- Stanford v. Kentucky (1989)
- Payne v. Tennessee (1991)
- Atkins v. Virginia (2002)
- Roper v. Simmons (2005)
The Death Penalty Today
- 36 states, federal government have statutes authorizing death penalty
- Since 1977, executions carried out in 34 states
- 65% in Florida, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia
- More than 1/3 in Texas
- Majority of prisoners under sentence of death in 2013 were white, never married, had less than high school education, overwhelmingly male
Methods of Execution
- Methods used in United States
- Lethal injection
- Electrocution
- Lethal gas
- Hanging
- Firing squad
- Lethal injection primary/exclusive method in 36 states
Arguments for Capital Punishment
- Largely focused on deterrent impact
- Another justification rests on the principle of retribution
- Broad public support for death penalty persists in United States
Arguments Against Capital Punishment
- Discrimination in application
- Brutalizing effect on society
- Criminal justice system not infallible; possibility of death-row inmate being innocent exists
Grounds for Appellate Review of Sentence
- Sentence violates Eighth Amendment
- Sentence is disproportionate
- Abuse of discretionary power
- Fell outside statutory sentence guidelines
- Imposed by a court not having jurisdiction authority
The Appeal Process
- Postconviction appeals
- Notice of appeal must be filed 30 to 90 days following conviction
- All death penalty sentences required to undergo automatic appellate review
- Today, after exhausting state appeals, most prisoners are allowed only one appeal in federal courts