Process Of Sentencing

Our society for the most part has a set of written laws by which it operates under. Laws govern our behavior in society and list punishments by which individuals that break them will be prosecuted and sentenced. Our criminal justice system is essential made up of three major intuitions which see a case from the beginning and through the trial and finally to the punishment phase ("How Does the Criminal Justice System Work?," 2014). Our society needs laws and punishment for those who violet the laws otherwise we would live in a world of chaos. In this paper we will examine various aspects of the criminal process from arrest through sentencing and appeal.

After a defendant is convicted or pleads guilty, a judge will then decide a suitable punishment (or sentence) during the sentencing phase of a criminal case. There are varying outcomes that can influence sentencing offenders, they can range from probation and community service to prison and even the death penalty. Minor infractions, misdemeanors, or offenders who plead guilty usually get sentenced almost immediately after ones convictions. In complex criminal cases such as serious felonies, the sentencing judge will usually receive input from the probation department which prepares a pre-sentence report with recommendations. Prosecutors and the defense will also speak to the judge regarding to ones convictions. There are several factors that a judge can choose from when determining a criminal sentence. These include: Does the offender have prior criminal history; Was the offender an accessory or the main offender; Was the offender under any personal stress or duress when the crime was committed; Was anyone injured; Was the offender cruel to a victim, or destructive in nature, did the offender display remorse or regret for crimes. However, not every conviction means a trip to prison. Judges in most cases have a great deal of discretion when determining a sentence. Some of these alternative sentences can include suspended sentences, community service, probation, deferred adjudication, and even fines or restitution. Furthermore, multiple sentences can be served

On Wednesday, 17 August 2016 a hearing took place at the Cairns District Court in Sheridan Street, Cairns. The hearing was held in room 6, level 3 at 9:40am. The hearing was for a criminal sentencing of Mr Bradford Jules Thomas, the accused, and was proceeded by Judge Harrison.

A sentence is a decree of a punishment assigned to a defendant who was found guilty by a court, or fixed by law for a particular offence.

Similar to the Sentencing Reform Act, the purpose of the United States Sentencing Commission is to prevent inequity of sentencing among federal judges. It’s role is to serve as a strict guideline for Judges to adhere and limits the discretion at which a Judge may alter the length of sentence. The goal of this commission is to hamper factors such as race, sex, socioeconomic status, etc to affect the length of sentence, and aims for the guideline to stand on a neutral ground.

This learner was not surprised that racial biases exist within our court system when it comes down to sentencing. So, are we saying the judges are racist? This learner hopes not, but she cannot help but wonder if they are just based on the number of African American that is housed in our jails/prisons. There just seems to be an overwhelming amount of us incarcerated verses Caucasians. It is also amazing that some of the sentencing time that judges past down for the same type of criminal act (e.g., burglary, auto theft, etc.) seems to be worst for African Americans more than there Caucasian counterparts. Especially if they are both first time offenders. Now, there could be other reasons for this, like pleading out their case verse going to trial. So, why is that? There could be many reasons, but for this discussion this learner will examine ways that we could eradicate some of the bias and discretion in the sentencing process.

The article, Revising Sentences, is cleverly titled to reflect the changes in prison sentencing due to lack of budget resources. In the past, governments had enacted laws that cracked down on crime and resulted in large numbers of incarcerations. Because of the cost and upkeep of prison sentencing, states are seeking alternatives to incarceration, such as education and rehabilitation programs. In particular, this revision of the correctional system is primarily referring to low-level first-time offenders.

The criminal trial process is an interesting process that takes place in Courtrooms all across the United States and throughout the globe. This study intends to set out the various steps in the criminal trial process in the American justice system. A trial is described as a "legal forum for resolving individual disputes, and in the case of a criminal charge, it is a means for establishing whether an accused person is legally guilty of an offense. The trial process varies with respect to whether the matter at issue is civil in nature or criminal. In either case, a jury acts as a fact-finding body for the court in assessing information and evidence that is presented by the respective parties in a case. A judge presides over the court and addresses all the legal issues that arise during the trial. A judge also instructs the jury how to apply the facts to the laws that will govern in a given case." (3rd Judicial District, 2012)

We believe that our judicial system does not support the rights guaranteed in Canadian charter rights and freedom and focus on legal guilt over factual guilt. The Canadian court system sentencing procedure see’ over both sides of the story carefully but court focus on proving suspect guilt rather then innocence. Our judicial systems currently have many flaws and it’s clearly noticeable in some situations. There have been a lot of cases where our judicial system failed to provide justice to the victim or guaranteed rights to society. Our main law that has been compromised in years is the privacy law. Fifteen years ago privacy was not as important as it today, the main reason for that is technology. As science advance it came up with all these new gadgets such as cell, computer and tables and with all technology came the rise social media. We now have Facebook, Twitter, Istagram, and many more online social media sites that people uses. Our law says that all of our private information cannot be disclosed to government unless someone is a threat but these rights have been violated multiple times. The first time it was an issue was in G20 summit, June 2010. Lately is have also been an issue in Canadian spy companies. Also government recently passed the bill c-150, which clearly violates our charter rights.

The criminal justice process for a felony offender can be a lengthy one depending on the crime committed and the amount of evidence in the case. The criminal justice process would not work without the help of law enforcement, the judicial and corrections departments. Society demands justice, while the offender fights maintain their rights as well. All parties involved in a case in the criminal justice system have positive and negative things to say, but there are some improvements which I think can make the system more fair, ethical and efficient.

Most stages of the criminal justice system revolve around the sentencing process, in that the primary focus is determining the guilt or innocence of the accused (Neubauer & Pradella, 2011). As a result, numerous laws, policies, and practices have been implemented throughout the system as a means to make sentencing procedures less complex. However, most of these sentencing laws have produced an adverse effect, and generated barriers during this stage of the justice process. Therefore, the purpose of this analysis is to provide further insight on challenges within the sentencing process in regard to sentencing laws. More specifically, three strikes laws are discussed in-detail as a means to present the positive and negative impacts they have

1. Outline and explain the three key goals victims can pursue through the criminal justice system.

All crimes are not conducted with the exact process and mind behind it, which is why it is essential for a variety of sentencing options presented to court to maintain a just criminal system. The extensive array of sentencing options provides judicial benefits as they ease the selection process as he/she are not limited to one particular sentence but can impose a suitable punishment corresponding to the nature of the crime. When courts have these other options available, they can tailor a cost-effective sentence that suits the crime and offender. Incarceration (imprisonment) is a famously common sentence among the system however this traditional approach can be replaced by many alternatives that could be selected when imposing a sentence.

Punishment is passed by the court for offence committed by the offender. Court passes a sentence based on the argument carried on by the prosecutor and defended along with the evidence presented before the court. How far these four principles are helpful in sentencing process are retributive, deterrent, reformative, expiatory and preventive.

The overall role of sentencing in the United States is to get revenge, retribution, just deserts, deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation or reformation, and restoration. From every point of view, we can look at each and one of these and dissect them to understand them further. "Revenge is an early form of punishment for someone that has committed a crime in which the sole purpose is to seek revenge for the wrong they have done, Retribution is more of a financial punishment where the victim is paid back for the wrong that has been done to them, and time lost from work and or bills acquired because of the act." Just deserts go into focusing how punishment worthy the offender is or deserving of it; deterrence is also an old western philosophy