Circuit Criminal Court Sentencing Docket Attendance: A Report

Ever since the first prison opened in the United States in 1790, incarceration has been the center of the nations criminal justice system. Over this 200 year period many creative alternatives to incarceration have been tried, and many at a much lower cost than imprisonment. It wasn’t until the late 1980’s when our criminal justice systems across the country began experiencing a problem with overcrowding of facilities. This problem forced lawmakers to develop new options for sentencing criminal offenders.

This dialogue repeated itself several times over the next 30 minutes with most of the defendants having been moved to courtroom 406. At this point, the crown requested that a Judge call a 10 minute recess so that she could locate the paperwork for one of the contested release cases, and the Judge obliged.

A major issue in criminal justice is sentencing. America’s court system has struggled to balance competing goals and policies in regards to criminal sentencing. This paper explores the ideas behind changes made to the sentencing policies with the United States judicial system. It begins with an overview of the goals behind criminal sentencing. This paper concludes with a discussion on the current status and disparities involving criminal sentencing.

As we arrived to the courthouse, there were cameras and many people from town to either support Officer Paul or me. Everyone went into the courtroom and sat down so the judge could get started.

Sentencing is a complicated, and sometimes extremely harsh set of rules. It has very deterrence, and retribution based set of rules for the most part. Which is indicative of the society we as americans live in. Through this paper i will explain each type of sentencing guideline. They are Intermediate, Determinate, Mandatory, Concurrent, and consecutive. Also we will talk about how in some states mandatory guidelines actually can lower the total prison population. But how in states that are not resource drive, incapacitation is on the rise. Finally i will convey my thoughts on sentencing. How it is a flawed and ,mostly broken system.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury since this case is being re opened I am going to give you all of the necessary background information on the trial.

As soon as I walked in in one of the court rooms on the 7th floor on 26th and Californian. A trial was already in progress as soon as I sat down an older woman with a blue prison suit was escorted in by a sheriff. She was holding what appeared to be an oxygen tank and it was attached to her nose she was one of the defendant. Next a very young men wearing a dress pants and a dress shirt with a tie on was escorted in by another sheriff

Then on the legal side, they showed you inside Lexington Corrections Facility. Where they interviewed a lot of the imamates, that were either there for dealing or using. Then you had the criminals that said they were so high that they ended up murdering someone and they don't recall. Like the majority of them said it was too late because they are serving a life sentence. When they were speaking to John Pacht, who is the lawyer that handle drug cases and Judge Mark H. Bennett who has put over 2,600 people in federal prison for drug offenses. The quote came out “that no matter if the person is being charged with a first offense or if it’s their multiple time it comes with a minimum sentence of 25

The lecture was sponsored by Arlin M. Adams Center for Law and Society. The Society was dedicated to Judge Arlin M. Adams who had served 17 years on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Society was established in 2001 as a way to help Susquehanna University students study the criminal justice

At the back of the courtroom, behind the barristers, where a semi-partitioned area known as the "dock" is, the defendant was placed. A custody officer was sitting with defendant in the dock.

A criminal was brought here to stand trial. The predicted facts of the case were established by a panel of people stating what they thought was the truth.

When entering the courtroom, I was astonished by its size, which was smaller than what I imagine. I thought it would be as big as three basketball courts. I was also impressed by the furnishing. In the front of the room was a horseshoe-shaped table and raised a few steps higher than the floor. A big square table faced the outside of the raised table with the jury box on the left. I chose a seat relatively far back because the first line of the gallery was reserved for the staff. As my friend and I had no clue about how each seating was decided, so we asked the man who sat in front of us, who was wearing a suit, and looked like a knowledgeable person. He patiently explained all the seating to us and introduced the case to us simply. In our understanding, the judge sat on the top, who represents the supreme power. In front of the judge sat the court clerks, who review the evidence. The jury is made up of twelve jurors, who sat on the left “box” of the judge. The defendant and her attorney sat in front of the judging table with their back towards the audience. The detective and the prosecutor sat on the right of the defendant, sharing the same table. I am impressed with the rigid structure of the legal system where the different roles have predetermined seats.

The tribunal was begun by asking the four defendants whether they were guilty or not, and they replied no. The prosecutor, Colonel

When I arrived in the court room, the case of People v. Larry Sanchez was being discussed. Mr. Sanchez, was not only in handcuffs, but also wearing a correctional facilities green jumpsuit. Those simple facts led me to expect a lot of action, but after a few minutes I noticed that it was simply an arraignment in which the judge accepted the defendant’s petition for plea bargain.

In observing proceedings in the county civil courthouse located at 1115 Congress Avenue. The room number is 309th on the floor seven of honorable judge Sheri Y. Dean. This case is about children and family practices and is still in establishment processing status. At the beginning of the trial, plaintiff named Brooklyn and defendant named Rodriguez had their own attorney to give legal advice and advocates. Everyone rises as the judge walk-in to show a respect and then seated when the judge told them to. The rules of the courtroom are very formal. The court is the place of justice, fairness, and unbiased in a legal system. The innocent party will be rewards and wrongdoer will be punished.