...James Fondren 12/1/14 Criminology Dr. McGovern Deterrence Theory The deterrence theory has been a long study theory since 17th century, starting with Thomas Hobbes and then in more depth by Cesare Beccaria in 1764 when he published Dei Delitti e delle Pene (On Crimes and Punishments).Deterrence theory has continue to be study in more and more depth over the years by sociologist and criminologist and more recently the study of deterrence of specific crimes and using imprisonment times to deter crimes as well. The deterrence theory main idea is that punishment for crimes can be used as a threat to deter people from offending. There’s two parts of the deterrence theory, specific and general deterrence. Specific deterrence is focused fully on the individual; it instils fear in the specific individual being punished. This type of deterrence refrain the individual from future violation of the law. General deterrence is the Criminal Justice system making examples of specific criminals. The criminal isn’t the main focus but the criminal act and its punishment is received in a public view in order to deter other individuals from deviance in future. Thomas Hobbes was an English philosopher, best known for his work on political philosophy. Hobbes published Leviathan in 1651, which is the foundation of later Western political philosophy. In Leviathan, Hobbes describes men as neither good nor bad, he assumed that men are creatures of their own desire who want certain things and who...
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...are used within the criminal justice system. The process that is used to apply justice is determined for the most part by punishment philosophies. These philosophies are used to express a variety of different concerns and arguments regarding the use of appropriate sentencing and treatment. Rehabilitation is a philosophy that predominantly rues the juvenile justice court system, but do not carry as much weight and is widely scrutinized within the adult courts sector. Rehabilitation may be scrutinized in the juvenile justice court system when the criminal behavior of the juvenile continues to escalate, but when rehabilitation is successful then it can be both beneficial for the criminal and society. When the appeals process is exercised it provides the fair practice of law, ensures those at trial the rights of due process, and gives clarity and provides full understanding of justice and the law. Punishment and Sentencing Philosophies In any nation that strives for great democracy, the major concern is the guaranteed universality of justice. For the US this is an ongoing process that is pursued largely in the court systems on an ongoing basis. Many criminalists state that if it the general basis for an action to constitute a crime really lies within the willful and the unsanctioned dispossession of another’s life, liberty, or property, then the punitive power of the state to deprive the same guaranteed rights, in the name of justice, must be enacted with...
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...Criminal justice System Three main components in the Criminal justice Those components are polices, courts, and Corrections They each play a significant role in the various stages .The content will be an overview of the criminal justice System as well as a description of the police officer, district attorney, defense attorney and local magistrate roles., Each component will be defined according to the American criminal justice system. The primary Function of each component will also be identified and two examples of each component will be given. The Ultimate goal in the criminal justice system is “(1) the need to enforce the law and to maintain public order and (2) the need to protect individuals from injustice, especially at the hands of the criminal justice system” (Schmalleger, 2011). What is the function of the police? Police are government officials in charge of regulating and controlling affairs within the community. Police are designed “to regulate, control, or keep order with or as if with a law enforcement agency” (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/police ) The functions of the police are to enforce the law, investigate crimes, apprehend criminals, maintain public order, prevent and reduce crime, and ensure community safety. Two examples of policing are the television show “CSI: NY” and the movie “The Glades”. The criminal justice system is the combination of legal...
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...Punishment versus Rehabilitation AJS/502 March 17, 2012 Punishment versus Rehabilitation For centuries the criminal justice system has struggled with punishment versus rehabilitation. Rehabilitation is the belief in curing a criminal of his or her criminal tendencies. By curing the criminal of his or her tendencies, he or she will one day be cast out back into society and be a contributing member. The idea behind punishment is to deter society while giving the offender his or her just deserts. The criminal justice system is a complex machine that society has designed to rehabilitate the offender while punishing the offender. The question still remains, is punishment or rehabilitation more important, depending on the person will depend on the answer. Deterrence of Crime Deterrence is one primary objective of criminal law. The goal is to discourage members of society from committing criminal acts out of fear of punishment (Farlex, 2008). Facing the criminal justice system can be a powerful deterrent. If an individual breaks a law he or she will be apprehended, convicted, and punished (Farlex, 2008). Many researchers have begun to look at personal choice. “An understanding of personal choice is commonly based in a conception of rationality or rational choice” (Keel, 2005, para 1). Cesare Beccaria and Jeremy Bentham are early classical theorists who analyzed human behavior concepts. “The central points of this theory are: (1) The human being is a rational...
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...of why it happened, but there are also thoughts of justice. When these crimes are committed the offenders will be labeled to fall in one of the three types of punishment, which are retribution, deterrence, rehabilitation,. Deterrence is a justification for punishment, which is to discourage criminals through the use of punishment. People have a choice whether or not to do a crime. Deterrence can be looked at as setting an example to future criminals. The justice system looks to discourage other criminals from continuing an illegal path. Although, today within society and the way the economy is deterrence is does not always work. Within the criminals mind they feel confident they will not get caught. Rehabilitation is another type of punishment. Rehabilitation is a program to reform the offender in order to prevent him or her from later offenses. This type of punishment is less harsh than retribution and deterrence. This is designed to help the criminal to conform and change their lives. With the crime rate so high correctional facilities are full and quickly becoming economically unsustainable and several jurisdictions are returning to rehabilitation as a more effective choice for managing offenders The last philosophy of punishment is restoration; in this philosophy “the main concern is about restoration of the victim and victimized community than with ever more costly punishment of the offender. Under restorative justice the emphasis is placed on the restoration of losses...
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...Criminal Justice System Our criminal justice system today is very complex. To begin with, crime should be defined in a simple matter in order to analyze the process of the criminal justice system and it’s relationship to the law. According to CJi Interactive (2011) in University of Phoenix website, crime can be defined as “ conduct in violation of the criminal laws of the state, the federal government, or a local jurisdiction, for which there is no legally acceptable justification or excuse”. Also explained by Cji Interactive (2011), the website explains how there is different ways or models of how people define criminal acts. Those models would be legalistic and sociological. The legalistic model states that a crime is made once there is already a law that prohibits such behavior. The sociological explains that an act against social rules is a crime because it threatens the order of society and could encourage harmful acts that disturb our human rights. Government structure is also a big part of our system. Our government uses the federal, state and local agencies to prevent crime. These agencies are structured by three components: the police, the courts, and corrections. Every single one of these components plays a huge part on handling crime in our country. As explained in the website www.Ehow.com (2012), first, the police departments throughout the United States work to enforce the law, maintain order and help citizens in need. Next, the court systems seek truth and...
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...CJA/204 - Introduction to Criminal Justice July 20, 2015 Criminal Justice System Criminal justice is a system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts (Wikipedia 2015). The criminal justice system makes up a set of independent agencies that is establish by the government. The justice system divides into three categories: federal, state, military, and local government. The Justice system designed to enforce laws and punish those who violate the law by committing a crime. Crime known for an action that is consider as an offense that is punish by the law. There is no single cause of crime. If laws did not exist, crime will not exist. Society determines which acts are criminal acts by the consensus model and conflict model. The consensus model is when society determine if the crime is a criminal act by beliefs and values. The conflict model is when criminal acts are determine by political and economic views. In this essay, I will discuss the importance of the criminal justice system structure, components, and goals. The criminal justice system is similar to the social justice that concerns the violation of the criminal law. The structure of the government is broken down into three branches. The branches are legislature, judicial, and executive. The Legislature branches is made of both state and federal. The Legislature...
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...death penalty is to serve as a deterrent for other would-be criminals. There have been studies conducted to determine if the death penalty is effective in this regard. There is another point of disparity surrounding the death penalty related to the equality of its application. Are all citizens treated equal? This paper takes a closer look at the equality in the application of the death penalty and its effectiveness as a deterrent. Is the Death Penalty a Fair and Effective Deterrent in the United States? The death penalty came to the United States with the first European settlers and continued until the 1960’s. “The 1960s brought challenges to the fundamental legality of the death penalty. Before then, the Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments were interpreted as permitting the death penalty. However, in the early 1960s, it was suggested that the death penalty was a "cruel and unusual" punishment, and therefore unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment.” (Bohm, 1999) Since the 1960’s courts have been battling the issue of the death penalty. Currently there are 38 states that have provisions for the death penalty. What is the purpose of the death penalty? The death penalty is the ultimate punishment for a crime. It ensures that the offender will never commit another crime against society. Some would argue that society has not only the right, but the duty to protect itself from severe criminals by executing them. The other side of the aisle might argue,...
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...Punishment In Criminal Justice CRJ 301 Juvenile Justice Iesia Mitchell Instructor: Diane Williams April 30 2012 Punishment In Criminal Justice CRJ 301 Juvenile Justice Iesia Mitchell Instructor: Diane Williams April 30 2012 | | There are five general aims or functions or justifications of punishment. The first being Deterrence There is a belief that punishment for crime can deter people from offending. There are two forms where deterrence is concerned with punishing an individual offender in the expectation that he will not offend again, and General deterrence is related to the possibility that people in general will be deterred from committing crime by the threat of punishment if they are caught. There is also the theory that criminal laws are passed with well-defined punishments to discourage individual criminal defendants from becoming repeat offenders and to discourage others in society from engaging in similar criminal activity. Deterrence is one of the primary objects of the Criminal Law. Its primary goal is to discourage members of society from committing criminal acts out of fear of punishment. The most powerful deterrent would be a criminal justice system that guaranteed with certainty that all persons who broke the law would be apprehended, convicted, and punished, and would receive no personal benefit from their wrongdoing this aim is effective by long prison sentence and heavy fines (Criminal Deterrence and Sentence Severity, 1999). ...
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...The concept of justice is something that helps to guide most individuals in that they believe in this concept to make a loss better. Many individuals will see law enforcement agencies, especially the officers that work for an agency, to be the tool that will be used to garner their justice. Kohlberg’s stages of moral development theory can help to explain criminal behavior in that a criminal that acts out for a particular reason will not be able to understand the stages that are beyond the one that they are in, such as only being interested in pleasing themselves. Using this information, a plan of deterrence can be made for criminals and arrive at justice for the victims and their families involved. The concept of justice can mean something a little different to everyone, but it conveys a sense that when a person is wronged by another they will receive some type of recompose in either the person being punished; they received their item back or other compensation that fulfills the feeling of being wronged. According to Nidich, R., Nidich, S. and Alexander (2005): Citing Socrates and Martin Luther King, Jr. as examples, Kohlberg points out that their willingness to uphold moral principles was based on both their faith in these moral principles as expressions of human reason and on their faith in justice, which was rooted in a cosmic perspective. (p. 139) This concept is something that many use to determine their own moral compass on issues in their life. The...
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...What is Crime? Celestina Toro Criminal Justice System What is Crime? The criminal justice system is used for the purpose to determine how we can think about behaviors of other human beings and how we can use laws to control and fix behaviors of others that commit crimes. To be more thoroughly of crime, these are acts and behaviors people do and get punished by law for doing the crime they did. Crime can be defined as a conduct in violation of criminal laws of federal and state government of a local jurisdiction for which there’s no legally accept excuse for the crime that was committed. There are five different goals of the criminal justice. The five goals are deterrence, incapacitation, retribution, rehabilitation and restoration. The first goal deterrence is the criminal justice goal that inhibits criminal behavior through fear of punishment. As for this goal, there are two types of deterrence, specific deterrence and general deterrence. Specific deterrence is when a person is caught punished and decides that they will no longer engage in criminal activities because they know the consequences. General deterrence is when the offender is caught and the punishment is observed other. As for these offenders, don’t commit criminal behaviors to avoid punishment. The goal incapacitation involves removing the offender’s ability to commit crime. What incapacitation means is to incarcerate the person. By incarcerating a person helps keep the dangerous offender off the streets so...
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...Capital punishment is and will always be a much debated topic in many legal systems alike. Although it was removed from the Canadian Criminal Code[ Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46 s 745] in 1976, capital punishment remains alive and well, still being in effect in 32 U.S. States. This begs the questions of what the reasons supporting this irrevocable form of punishment are, as well as the counter arguments that follow. In full support of the former, in his article titled “On Deterrence and the Death Penalty”[ Van Den Haag, Ernest (1969) On Deterrence and the Death Penalty. The Journal of Criminal Law, Criminology and Police Science, 60(2) ], Ernest Van Den Haag outlines his thoughts which support the use of the death penalty and how it might deter heinous crimes against society. The first section of this paper will give a summery of Van Den Haag’s thoughts, which he outlined in the article, including the main points and arguments made which support his view. Following this summary, an in depth analysis of how the article relates to my personal beliefs and understanding of the topic will take place. Summary In section one of the article, the author brings up the point that the purposes of the death penalty must always be understood as being one of two things: doing justice or deterring others. Van den Haag points out that any other aim of a justice system, such as rehabilitation, would not be met by this form of punishment. It is his belief that opponents contesting the use of the...
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...A goal is the object of a person's ambition or effort, or an aim or desired result. The goal of correction is an effort to correct the problems and issues in societies; correct the behavior of criminals to reform back to society. There are four traditional fundamental rationals in operation when offenders were sentenced. The four are incapacitation, retribution, rehabilitation, and deterrence. In the past ten years, restorative justice has been added. Incapacitation, retribution, rehabilitation, and deterrence all share the same goal for correction, but the process is different. Incapacitation has the effect of protecting society from the individual. Incapacitation is the most straightforward justification for punishment, particularly for...
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...The Rational Choice theory implies that individuals who commit crimes commit them after contemplating the risks of getting caught and the pending punishment, along with the rewards of accomplishing the criminal act. However, individuals who do not commit a crime decide that accomplishing the criminal act is too risky and not worth the reward. In other words, whether you are a criminal or not, rational thinking takes place, based on this theory. The Deterrence theory implies that if a punishment is severe, certain, and swift enough a would-be criminal will evaluate the gains and losses prior to participating in criminal acts. There are two elements to the Deterrence theory, general deterrence and specific deterrence. General deterrence is intended...
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...L. Elise Bowling Criminal Sentencing CRJ 301 Juvenile Justice Timothy Koester September 20, 2010 Criminal Sentencing Over the years, there has been great debate over the purpose of sentencing criminals, but it generally all boils down to the importance of deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and retribution. All four plays an important role in sentencing, and each vary on a case-by-case basis. As far as the purpose of criminal sentencing goes, it is imperative that all courts are on the same page and strive to achieve the same outcome. Due to the ever-changing society we live in, there has always been controversy as to what the right objective was for the criminal when it comes to punishment. For long time rehabilitation was the focus in criminal sentencing, but that proved to fail due to the increase of recidivism. Now it seems that the main focus of criminal sentencing is incapacitation, which hopefully leads to deterrence, rehabilitation, or retribution. It is clear that information on the outcomes of sentences and their cost must play a crucial role in deciding the relative importance of deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and retribution (Justice). When the criminal court system focuses on incapacitation for the offender, it does so for many reasons. There are many that feel future crime can be prevented if the criminal is locked up and physically restrained. One aspect of this is the approach to lock...
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