Effects Of Changing Sentencing Laws

I will be discussing the key facts and critical issues presented in various roles/goals within the United States (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015). The The Various roles/goals of Sentencing within the United States. In a narrative format, discuss the key facts and critical issues presented. The various goals of criminal sentencing today are revenge, retribution, just deserts, deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation or reformation, and restoration (Schmalleger & Smykla, 2015). The first is revenge.

The Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention and Protection Act (JJDPA) was established in 1974 and was the first federal law that dealt comprehensively with juvenile delinquency to improve the juvenile justice system and support state and local efforts at delinquency prevention. This paper will assess the JJDPA and summarize its purpose and implementation and enforcement. Next, there will be a discussion of the historical context of the policy; followed by a focus of the latent consequences. Finally there will be a vignette as to how this Act has affected a person or family as well as personal reflection toward the policy.

Today I called the Illinois Representative Michael J. Madigan office and received his answering machine. I left him a message asking him to please consider passing bills for sentencing reform legislation, such as the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act (SRCA), S.2123. I told him that I am a registered voter and it has come to my attention that the federal prison population has skyrocketed dramatically over the past 35 years and most of the people in the prisons are in for minimum drug sentences. I told him that while people are in prison they are losing income, job skills, and are typically unable to attend rehabilitation programs. All of these aspects make it extremely difficult for the people to obtain jobs or get on the right path once

Prison reform has been an ongoing topic in the history of America, and has gone through many changes in America's past. Mixed feelings have been persevered on the status of implementing these prison reform programs, with little getting done, and whether it is the right thing to do to help those who have committed a crime. Many criminal justice experts have viewed imprisonment as a way to improve oneself and maintain that people in prison come out changed for the better (encyclopedia.com, 2007). In the colonial days, American prisons were utilized to brutally punish individuals, creating a gruesome experience for the prisoners in an attempt to make them rectify their behavior and fear a return to prison (encyclopedia.com, 2007). This practice may have worked 200 years ago, but as the world has grown more complex, time has proven that fear alone does not prevent recidivism.

The Sentencing Reform Act is related to the Complete and thorough Crime Control Act of 1984 were the U.S. federal law increased the consistency in the United States federal sentencing. The Sentencing Reform Act created the United States Sentencing Commission. This act allowed the independent commission into the (law-related) branch of the United States Sentencing Commission. It consists of seven voting members and one nonvoting member. For the benefit of the United States Sentencing Commission, there are rules that establish sentencing policies and practices for the Federal criminal justice system, which secures/makes sure of a meeting of the purposes of sentencing.

In March 2008, U.S Congress passed the Second Chance Act. It was passed to reduce the number of people returned to jail after parole release, not because of a crime committed, but because of small violations or other reasons. It was put in place to help the paroles live a better life. It also put in place new services and programs to help paroles get their life in order. Programs like Reentry courts, Educating and Training people for jobs while they are in prison, mentoring programs to adults and teens getting out of jail, drug treatment, alternatives to jail time and other programs to ensure that people who are in the system get a ‘second chance’ in life.

“The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984” The article, “The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984” (2015), written by Eric Girault, persuades the audience that the enactment of the law did not reduce crime in societies, but was misappropriated, which caused a negative impact on families and their communities. Girault describes this by sharing his personal anecdote on receiving a harsh prison sentence for a non-violent crime as a first time offender. He uses trustworthy resources in order to substantiate his claim. Girault’s intended audience for this piece of writing is the general public, specifically those that lack knowledge of the law and its due process.

Food stamps are provided to help Americans who struggle with food insecurity. People that are not sure where there next meal is coming from are given help so they can get by in difficult times. Maine's Governor, Paul LePage has lobbied that food stamps should ban the purchasing of candy and sugary drinks. The purpose of food stamps is not violated by this restriction, candy and soda hardly count as a nutritious, filling meal. However this bill was shot down by the Federal Government, LePage's response was to threaten to scrap the food stamp program if these new regulations are not included.

Many people have their own opinion about sentencing reform. Some people think that it should be change while others think that it should stay how it is. In my opinion i think that they should not change it. To start with, i think that the sentencing reform should stay the same because there 's too many crimes going on in this world. According to source 1 it states, “there is no question that crime rates will increase if sentencing reform provides large numbers of criminals with early release from prison and requires shorter sentences when they re-offend.”

The criminal justice system has made a huge impact on past and present society. It has changed dramatically over the years, with different laws being created to help and protect our society. The book On The Parole Board: Reflections On Crime, Punishment, Redemption, and Justice by Frederic G. Reamer explains in great detail about his experiences with being on the parole board. He also describes the challenges that he faces with the inmates and. The crimes he has heard from different inmates, are horrific acts someone can do.

Introduction Crime, its punishment, and the legislation that decides the way in which they interact has long been a public policy concern that reaches everyone within a given society. It is the function of the judicial system to distribute punishment equitably and following the law. The four traditional goals of punishment, as defined by Connecticut General Assembly (2001), are: “deterrence, incapacitation, retribution, and rehabilitation.” However, how legislature achieves and balances these goals has changed due to the implementation of responses to changing societal influences. Mandatory minimum sentences exemplify this shift.

The literature answers the issues of incarceration rates increasing by giving us the product such as legislative decisions that were the primary reason that led to the increase of charging and imprisoning more offenders as well as increasing sentences, limiting prison release, and expanding the prison capacity. Higher incarceration rates were not the sole reason for the increase in crime. Prisons were continuing to be built even though crime had been declining. Later resulting in the sharpest decrease in crime in American history. Essentially every states incarceration rate was increased by 150 percent from 1970 to 2000, and the median state increasewas 390 percent, which was taken from the Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2012.

Those who find themselves sentenced to time in a penitentiary, jail, or prison are at risk of either being broken or strengthened by the time they spend behind bars. There is a great debate of whether or not the prison system in the United States is positive or negative. The following will briefly highlight the positives, negatives, and possible alternatives for our nation's prison system. First, there is a long list of negatives that the prison system in America brings. The prison system is filled with crime, hate, and negativity almost as much as the free world is.

INTRODUCTION One may argue, why should there be a probations system? For many people, one of the greatest injustices of the criminal justice system is that convicted offenders are free to commit new crimes before they “pay” for the old ones. Despite that argument, probations play an integral role in any country’s criminal justice system and for that reason a probations office within the criminal justice system was established. Additionally, probation is one of the least restrictive penalties among the alternatives confronting a sentencing judge. It is in fact a conditional release of an individual by the court after having been found guilty of the crime charged and not a dismissal of charges as one may believe.

There have been many advances in the methods of detailing and punishing those individuals throughout history who hand found themselves deviating from society norms. Criminals are punished for the acts that they carry out on citizens, property they damage, and many other deviate acts they engage in across America. Supervision of criminals, along with prolonged rehabilitation has always been the major stepping stone for integrating criminals back into society. Correctional supervision has allowed criminals with minor and some major crime convictions to forgo incarceration for a form of corrections that is less structured than that of a penal system or correctional facility. There are many different types of correctional supervision that a criminal can be ordered to participate in and complete before completing many rehabilitation programs.