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Chapter Four Corrections In America

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In chapter 4 of Corrections in America, the text explains the role of prosecutorial plea bargaining and how it creates the correctional funnel. This chapter examines issues that deal with sentencing criminal offenders and certain processes that are used in order to punish them. The objective of this chapter is to explain and give alternatives to criminal courts and the criminal trial process. Its objective is not only to explain and give alternatives, it is also to explain what a correctional filter is and how it functions. The correctional filter is the concept that is now being used in order to represent the various sentencing options that may confuse observers. The correctional filter functions to categorize, sort, and divert offenders into alternatives instead of incarceration. This is where criminal offenses are divided into one of two types, which are misdemeanor and felony. A misdemeanor is a less serious offense and it is punishable by fine or up to one year of incarceration. A felony is a more serious offense that can be punished by imprisonment …show more content…

The sale of five grains of crack cocaine results in a minimum of five years in prison. Throughout the years, the number of imprisoned federal prisoners has dropped. Within the correctional filter, the most important participant is the prosecutor’s office. This is where prosecutors implement their discretionary power to dismiss charges or reduce them to where the defendant is more than likely to plead guilty. This is known as plea bargaining. The reason on why they allow this is because of high caseloads and very limited resources, forcing prosecutors to get over their caseloads as quickly as possible to avoid overwhelming their duties. However, there are very important factors that have an influence on the dismissal of the

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