...The Three Strike Law The policy that I have chosen to discuss is the three strike law. The three strike law was created to handle problems that occurred with habitual offenders. Commonly known in the 1990’s era the three strike law increased prisons sentences of habitual offenders. The three strike law is a statue that allows the courts to impose harsh sentences such as life sentences to individuals who are convicted of three or more major criminal offenses. Habitual criminals automatically qualify for the three strike law because of the number of felonies they have committed. What makes this very interesting is the fact that mandatory life sentence that occur because of the three strike rule are not overruled by other judges. The three strike law is enacted throughout the United States to address repeat criminal offenders. Habitual criminals are more than likely sentenced to prison for life. One of the major reasons that habitual criminal are treated this way is because they pose a serious threat to the environment and society. Although it seems as if habitual criminals are treated harshly, they can petition for a review of his or her case with the Supreme Judicial Court. Crimes that are on the felony level qualify as serious offenses or violent crimes that could receive life sentences. The following are crimes that qualify as violent and serious crime: Murder, rape, robbery of residence that involve deadly weapons, and assault with intent to commit murder are all considered...
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...Policy: Three Strikes Law The majority of crime control policies have positive intentions at first of reducing crime but many, if not all, fall short in making an effective and lasting change among crime rates. One of the largest shortfalls in policy creation and most popular idea in mandatory sentencing can be observed with the set of laws referred too as “three Strikes and you’re out” laws. The Three Strikes law is a statute regulated by state courts that imposes harsher penalties to repeat offenders within the criminal justice system. The commonly referred name of “Three Strikes” is taken from the game of baseball and the idea that after a batters third chance of swinging at a pitch, he is considered out of chances to bat. This analogy of a game is now being applied to determining sentencing of habitual offenders. In the majority of states who impose this type of law, strikes are considered previous felony convictions and after a persons third strike, or third felony conviction, they then fall under a mandatory 25 to life sentence. Being convicted of life in prison gives very little chance of probation. This costs the convicted their lives in prison, their family abandonment and the taxpayers millions of dollars every year. The first of these habitual offender laws was enacted in 1993 by the state of Washington called the Persistent offender Accountability Act and then in 1994 by the state of California with 22 other states in the following years. These Three strike laws...
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...A habitual offender is a status usually given to a repeat felony offender. If a person has committed two or three previous felonies or numerous misdemeanors, they may be subject to being labeled a habitual offender. If labeled a habitual offender, increased penalties apply to subsequent crimes committed. The crime itself may also be ranked as a more serious class if committed by a habitual offender. The amount of time served on the sentence is increased also, with less opportunity for reduction of sentences for good behavior and similar reductions. A person who has been previously convicted of a crime may be subject to being classified as a habitual offender for committing subsequent crimes. And generally state laws don't require that this warning be given upon initial convictions. Habitual offender laws vary by state, so consult the law in your area to determine applicable requirements. I think that they are targeting all the right people. I feel that if you continue to be a habitual offender your incarceration should keep getting time added to it if you keep going in and out of the prison system. On the other hand if the crime is a misdemeanor I would not incarcerate that person due to the fact it would cost the tax-payers an arm and a leg. If we wouldn't incarcerate people with lesser crimes we would have more room in the prisons for the felony crimes that take priority over lesser misdemeanors crimes. People that commit misdemeanors should have to answer for their crimes...
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...Sentencing descriptions are primarily for felony offenses, or those that are punishable by less than one year of incarceration. Mandatory minimum sentences, three strikes laws and sentencing guidelines frequently require specific sentences, with little consideration of personal factors regarding offenders, their crimes, and victims. The state and federal court system have similar and different objectives of punishment. The state and federal corrections system are affected as a system overall. There is a correlation between determinate and indeterminate sentencing when sentencing a criminal offender in the judicial process. What are the state and federal objectives of punishment? There are five major types of punishment. There are two types of deterrence: individual and general. Individual deterrence involves deterring someone that has already offended from reoffending. General deterrence is stopping those who would offend from offending because of the punishment that others are receiving. Retribution is the theory that the punishment is right because it is deserved. Retribution has been around for some time, it is better known to some as “an eye for an eye” or “a life for a life” in more cases. Rehabilitation is to bring back to life, through therapy and education. A goal of rehabilitation is to prevent habitual offending. Incapacitation is seen as a good consequence of punishment because while behind bars the...
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...my goal and primary objective to enact laws and policies that not only protect the people that gave us this power but is also in the best interest of those people. We would all love to see these laws and policies work efficiently, efficient, and without flaw. However, it must be acknowledged that the vast majority of these policies and legislation have their downsides and adverse effects along with their positive outcomes. Robbery, by definition, is someone taking another's person's property by the use of intimidation or violent force. Armed robbery is defined as robbery at gunpoint or with the use or the intent of a weapon. Currently now in play is the three strikes law; which differs from state to state. In 1990, the three strike law became very popular, causing a massive growth within the prison system. With the popularity of the law, lawyers and law professionals had come to know the three strike law as the habitual offender law. The three strikes law states that a person convicted of a grave crime on three or more separate occasions will receive the maximum sentence possible. The reason for this law is automatic and longer incarceration periods for any person committing three or more felonies. The objective of this bill I would like to propose would be to alter the length of time served for those convicted of armed robbery. If this bill were approved it would extend the length of time, an offender serves. The offenders convicted of armed robbery would serve...
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...nonincarceration sentences include economic sanctions, probation, and intermediate sanctions; incarceration sentences include both short-term and long-term confinement. As described in the next two chapters, short sentences are sometimes linked with an intermediate sanction, so offenders spend part of their sentence in jail or prison and part of their sentence under supervision in the community. Finally, there are sentences of death. For sentences of incarceration, indeterminate and determinate sentences are the two primary models used throughout the United States, although there are many variations for each of these. Indeterminate sentences blend the decision by the sentencing judge and a later decision by a release authority to determine the actual time served. At the time of sentencing, judges sentence offenders to indeterminate sentences, with a minimum and maximum amount of time to be served (for example, two to five years or ten to twenty years). After serving the minimum term, offenders are eligible to be released and their cases are reviewed by a parole board. The parole board determines the release date any time between the minimum and maximum sentence. If a parole board never grants parole, the offender serves the maximum sentence and then must be released. The parole decision and postrelease supervision in the community are described in Chapter 6. indeterminate sentences sentences that have a minimum and maximum time to serve; a decision by a release authority determines...
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...05/31/11 Robert White Jail and Prison Paper When it comes to jail and prison, there is a distinctive set of differences. Jail is a place of incarceration that is locally operated, while prisons are conducted by the state government or the federal government. Within the United States, there are about 3,600 jails but there are only about 100 federal prisons or rehabilitation facilities. Jails house inmates who have been convicted of a misdemeanors and their sentence is no greater than two years. In addition, a person may be held in jail while awaiting trial, has an unpaid bond, or was recently jailed. If a person is convicted of a state crime he or she will serve their sentence in a state prison as opposed to federal crimes which lands offenders in federal prisons. A jail’s amenities are very limited because of the light sentence and short periods of time spent there. A county jail offers work release, substance abuse programs, and may provide basic necessities to inmates. Prisons also offer work release programs, vocational training, halfway houses, as well as recreational facilities. Inmates at prisons will serve decades within the facility while others have to serve lifetime sentences behind bars. A major concern of prison staff and administrators is disruptive and violent behavior. Their concerns pertain to the safety of inmates as well as employees of the prison facility. Disruptive and violent behavior is not tolerated in prisons because it disrupts the rehabilitation process...
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...The Three Strike law was started in California in 1994, and later on nine other states begin to implement the same law. After The Three Strike Law was put into action, it have been millions of people persecuted because of it. Even though The Three Strikes Law cause overcrowding , The Three strikes law has been a great rule that is beneficial for the this country because it causes a deterring effect , it protect communities, and help the economy. The Three Strike Law is law that can benefit the United States in a positive way, and one of the unique advantages the Law have is that it help keep communities safe. This rule help keep communities protected because it allow felons to stay in jail longer. If criminals stay in jail for...
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...should widen the scoop of its focus to include the discrimination not just of law enforcement officials, but also of the criminal justice system itself. Disparities in sentencing have skyrocketed since the 1980s and this increase is pushed by the war on drugs. Despite the clear evidence showing that sentencing reform must become a priority for policymakers due to both the social and economic aspects of this issue, things remain the same. The purpose of this essay is to inform the debate on sentencing reform, race, and education....
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...statistic and begins to raise some valid concerns, could it be that the United States court system is structured in a way that unfairly treats criminals? Or could it be that people in the United States just commit more crimes per capita than the rest of the world? The latter doesn’t seem like a plausible explanation, the United States and Canada are so similar it almost seems unrealistic to assume that the crime disparity could be so wide. That leaves us with the idea that the United States court systems unfairly treats criminals or just treats criminals harsher than any other developed country in the world. This thought is certainly very frightening and should be a concern for every United States citizen. Even though most people are good, law-abiding citizens, sometimes these good people make mistakes and when this happens they should face consequences appropriate for the crime that they committed. Giving someone a long sentence in prison for what would be considered a minor crime in other developed countries is cruel and unjust. It goes against what America stands for; freedom, the land of opportunity and second chances, and the chance to live the...
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...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). The second aim at justification of punishment is Rehabilitation this involves offering an offender help to overcome problems which he faces, thereby attempting to make it easier for him or her to avoid future offending. This can include various types of assistance provided in prison or in the course of a probation order which are intended to help the offender to improve his...
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...Name Course Institution Introduction According to Lynch, (2008), racial discrimination in the criminal justice is said to exist when a part of ethnic or racial group within the control system is greater than the proportion of such groups in the general population. Unlawful racial disparity results from dissimilar handling of similar people by virtue of race. This may be attributed to overt trial basis or effect of factors that are indirectly linked to race. In some instances discrimination results from un-guarded, individual or institutional level decisions that are made based on race (Lynch2008). Context of the Problem According to statistics, the population of United States is made up of 13% Black population. Despite this as of 2009 blacks made up 28.3 percent of all those sentenced to life imprisonment 56.4 percent of whom were serving life without parole. Despite similar rates of drug use, Blacks are incarcerated on drug charges at a rate ten times greater than whites. Only 12% of people who use the drug are blacks, but Blacks constitute 38 % of those arrested for drug crimes and 59 % of those in state prison for drug crimes. Although both consume equivalent proportions of marijuana, Blacks are 3.73 times more likely to be arrested for being in possession of marijuana. In some counties, Blacks are 10, 15, even 30 times more likely to be arrested (Stuntz, 2011). Sentencing imposed on black males in the federal...
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...CJ 310-02 Criminal Law April 7, 2011 In Criminal law, there is an ancient proposition saying,” no crime without law, no punishment without law. That in criminal law is based on the principle of legality. The ancient saying means that no one can be convicted or punished, unless there is a law that defines it’s as a crime. The case of Treva Hughes, Ms Hughes was driving while under the influence. She ran into Ms. Reesa Poole and killing her unborn child and was convicted. The Appeals Court reversed her conviction because the law didn’t give Ms. Hughes fair warning that it included the unborn in homicide stature. An Ex Post Facto Laws criminalizes an act that was innocent when it was committed. It is the clearest example of ex post facto laws, they’re also the rarest. Ex Post Facto also increases the punishment for a crime after the crime was committed. Just as clear an rare like the first one. An example is raising the age of statutory rape form 16 to 21. Finally it takes away a defense that was available to a defendant when the crime was committed. The Ex Post Facto ban is protect private individuals by ensuring that legislature give them a fair warning about criminal and that they can rely on that requirement. The other purpose is to prevent legislators form passing arbitrary and vindictive laws. The Void-for-Vagueness Doctrine takes aim similar to the ban on ex post facto. Void laws fails to give fair warning to individuals as to what the law prohibits. It can...
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...United States Prison System: The War on Drugs The United States of America is no longer the home of the free. It is the home of the locked up and caged. How can this nation embrace the concept of freedom when over 2.4 million of its citizens are locked up in prison? How can Americans have the nerve to utter the words, “racial equality” when over 10% of all African-American men is incarcerated? How can we take pride in a nation that locks up its citizens that suffer from the disease of addiction? This should be an embarrassment to all Americans. The criminal justice system must be reformed and surrender the “War on Drugs.” According to the June 2008 Bureau of Justice Summary, Americans make up only four and a half percent of the world’s population yet boasts twenty-two percent of the world’s incarcerated population. According to the same report, the American Criminal Justice System imprisons six times more of its population than other free nations such as Canada, Australia, Germany, Spain, and Italy. America incarcerates ten times more of its population than Japan, France, and Finland. We have the highest rate of incarceration in the world, much higher than China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, and North Korea whom we consider fascias police states. The 2009 statistics reported in the Prison Index showed that one third of African-American men will serve time in prison at some point in their life. The Bureau of Justice statistics reported, “The number of inmates in...
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...expressively. It can either reduce crime itself or it can be retributive, expressing society’s outrage. Crime can be reduced in three separate ways. Offenders themselves are discouraged from committing future crimes because they don’t want to undergo the punishment again; Mrs Thatcher instigated the ‘short, sharp shock’ regime in young offenders’ institutions in the 1980s. Some states in America go further and make the time in prison physically unpleasant. The rest of the community is deterred because they see the result of criminality. Prison can also bring about reform or rehabilitation of the prisoner through education, training or behaviour modification courses so that the ex-prisoner can integrate successfully into social life on release. Prison also works because the prisoners are not free to commit crimes against the general public. America uses the ‘3 strikes’ rule to remove habitual offenders from the community. Other countries use other forms of punishment to incapacitate offenders. America also uses the death sentence, a rather permanent solution, chemical castration for sex offenders and Muslim countries, in particular, still remove the hands of thieves so they cannot steal. At times the focus is on rehabilitation and the reduction of future crime, at others societies seem to be keener on punishment for its own sake. Offenders have breached the social code and society is allowed to take...
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