...University 2/19/12 SUFFERING 2 ABSTRACT The mentally ill unfortunately commit crimes that they may or may not be aware of. The problem is that there needs to be a system put in place that will work for the criminal justice system the potential criminal. We need to be able to identify what type of person we are dealing with and do what is best per that situation, not just assume everybody is guilty and possibly ruin their life. SUFFERING 3 The mentally ill often times make mistakes or are accused of crimes that usually send them to jail. The problem (for me) is knowing when it is okay to justify these criminal like acts or decided whether the person should be put into a situation where they can get help or go to jail. Is it really safe, necessary, or proper precaution to incarcerate a mentally ill person? Safety should be the main concern for a mentally ill person that is institutionalized. Putting them in big populations of people could be dangerous. Their reactions to situations are usually different than most normal thinking people. With that being said, they could actually...
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...Gabrielle DaSilva Craig Wiggin Criminal Justice 101 4/2/2016 Final Essay Dear Client, I am here to not only tell you about seeing legal counsel regarding the criminal process, but I am here to be you criminal defense attorney- informing you about our police investigation, arrest, prosecution, trial or plea bargain, sentencing, imprisonment, parole, and final discharge to be a part of society - claiming your life again. Police investigations not only take matters into their own hands, they need help and those who specialize in specific things in a crime such as, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug, Secret Service (SSI), and more. (Justicegov) All of these again have qualifications towards particular on-going situations...
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...In our criminal justice system, sentencing guidelines allow a judge discretion in determining minimum and maximum penalties for a convicted individual. (Hinojosa, 2-4, 9, 11) In certain crimes, juries have influence in the determination of penalties (Klein, 694-695) Sentencing guidelines are designed to reduce variation in sentencing for particular crimes. (Klein, 694) The justice system acknowledges the difficulty in accurately assigning attribution and predicting the likelihood a criminal will repeat their crime. The textbook discusses several types of attributional errors that I think are relevant in the complex issues of sentencing and crime. (Baron, 101) I can envision many situations in which either judges or juries are incorrect in their determination of a criminal’s motive that leads to either too stringent or too lenient sentencing. A quick google search on jury bias yields several pages of studies and articles discussing the challenges of correctly assessing the amount of bias a juror will have in criminal proceedings. Current sentencing guidelines for many crimes attempt to limit the amount of bias from both judges and jurors. Ethically I think standardized sentencing guidelines based upon objective criteria such as the severity of the crime and the frequency of the individual has been convicted of a crime are the best approach. Whether or not someone spends a significant portion of their lives in jail is too important a decision to risk attribution error and bias...
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...Criminal Law CJAD 101 Week # 3 Criminal Law Criminal Law is the assumption that a criminal act injures not just individuals, but society as a whole, (Schmalleger, 2009). In criminal law it is made up of five types of laws, substantive, procedural, civil, administrative and case. The explanation of these laws and how they work is what keep society at a healthy flow. What is considered a crime, how are they categorized, substantive laws is the explanation of the law and it is what constitutes the violation as a crime. It helps to determine the punishment for the crime that is committed. Procedural laws specify acceptable methods for dealing with violations of substantive laws, especially within the context of a judicial setting, (Schmalleger, 2009). This is the methods that determine if a crime is really a crime and it see if it is punishable by law. It also determines if the violation is worth taken a person to court and to prosecute. Civil Law governs relationships between and among people, (Schmalleger, 2009). With civil law not crime has to be committed in order to sue someone. If a person feels that their personal material has been compromised than they can take someone to civil court to receive a judgment. A great example is when O. J. Simpson was acquitted on murder charges; the family took O. J. to civil court and won their judgment. Administrative law is the body of regulations that governments create to control the activities of industry...
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...(2), 2, 101-116. Alexander Jr., Rudolph. (1993). The Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders in Light of Foucha v Louisiana. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 20 (4), 371-387. Annon, Jack S. (1996). Treatment Programs for Sex Offenders. American Journal of Forensic Psychology, 14 (2), 49-54. Cheit, Ross E. & Goldscmidt, Erica B. (1997). Symposium: The Treatment of Sex Offenders: Child Molesters in the Criminal Justice System: A Comprehensive Case-Flow Analysis of the Rhode Island Docket (1985-1993). New England Journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement, 23, 267. Colorado Department of Corrections. �State Sex Offender Treatment Programs: 50 � State Survey.� Online. August 2000. Available http://www.doc.state.co.us/admin_reg/PDFs/SO-report-send2.pdf Edwards, William & Hensley, Christopher. (2001). Restructuring Sex Offender Sentencing: A Therapeutic Jurisprudence Approach to the Criminal Justice Process. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 45 (6), 646-662. Geer, Tracey M., Becker, Judith V., Gray, Steven R. & Krauss, Daniel. (2001). Predictors of Treatment Completion in a Correctional Sex Offender Treatment Program. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 45 (3), 302-313. Hanson, R. K. (2002). Recidivism and Age Follow-Up Data From 4,673 Sexual Offenders. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 17 (10), 1046-1062. Kalichman, Seth C. (1993). Commentary on Alexander (1993). Criminal Justice...
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...Classism and Criminal Justice Draft 2 Justice is a term that we hear every day and accept although many of us have skepticism as to what it truly means. In general, justice is the idea of righteousness and equality. In regards to society’s views on how “just” the criminal justice system is, we always incorporate the “ism’s”: Racism, sexism and classism, to demonstrate some of the pitfalls that the system has. Though it is obvious that all of these societal differences play a large role in the criminal justice process, I will focus on classism. Classism is the discrimination against a group or individual based on social and economic status. Classism is one of those “ism’s” that occurs more than we notice and sometimes, we may confuse it with things like racism or sexism. Classism, in my opinion, plays a larger role in the criminal justice system as opposed to the other forms of discriminatory practices. In particular, class largely comes into play during the sentencing process. Many authors argue that factors outside of class play a more important role, but I believe that there needs to be more attention paid to the role that class plays in targeting and the sentencing process in the criminal justice system. In order to understand the role that class plays in the sentencing process, we must, first, look at the role that it plays before the criminal reaches the day of sentencing. There are a plethora of publications that speak on profiling and actuarial methods which get people...
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...Kristopher S. Bolds Classism and Criminal Justice Justice is a term that we hear every day and accept although many of us have skepticism as to what it truly means. In general, justice is the idea of righteousness and equality. In regards to society’s views on how “just” the criminal justice system is, we always incorporate the “ism’s”: Racism, sexism and classism, to demonstrate some of the pitfalls that the system has. Though it is obvious that all of these societal differences play a large role in the criminal justice process, I will focus on classism. Classism is the discrimination against a group or individual based on social and economic status. Classism is one of those “ism’s” that occurs more than we notice and sometimes, we may confuse it with things like racism or sexism. Many authors argue that factors outside of class play a more important role, but many believe that we should be more attentive to the role that class plays in targeting and the sentencing process in the criminal justice system. In order to understand the role that class plays in the sentencing process, we must, first, look at the role that it plays before the criminal reaches the day of sentencing. There are a plethora of publications that speak on profiling and actuarial methods which get people into the system. Though these are two large proponents of the discriminatory acts that exist within the confines of the criminal justice system, it does not begin with these institutionalized methods...
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...This week we were assigned a few articles to read and analyze. Reflecting on this weeks reading, an assessment can be made about the way America has handled crime and prevention within the criminal justice system. As a country the United States is the world’s leader in incarceration with 2.2 individuals behind bars in either prison or jails. Political agendas fueled along with the outcry from the public fueled the legislatures to increase crime sentences thereby increasing the incarceration levels to extremely high levels. By leading the world in incarceration in addition to the crime rates the public can see just how poorly run the system truly is and how we can aim to fix it. Connections can be made between Travis et al.'s (2014) illustration...
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...Jail System Paper Introduction According the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives (NCIA) “453 jail inmates committed suicide in 1985 and 401 in 1986” (Tartaro & Ruddell, 2006 , para1). What is it about prisons that would make an inmate take their life? The jail system traditionally is underfunded and understaffed. Today in prisons and jails the overcrowding is a big concern. For many the jail is a house of horror. The current problems with the jail system will be discussed in this paper. Solutions to the problems will be given as well. Describe the jails place in corrections and its role throughout history. The jails role in corrections is to hold inmates that are awaiting trial, there on bench warrants, unable to make bail, awaiting a transfer, or serving sentences of a year or less. Besides the obvious role of the jail, it also plays a role in corrections because it helps to rehabilitate the inmate. This is done by offering a variety of treatment programs that the inmate has the option to participate in. It is not required for the inmate to participate in a program, unless ordered by the court, but it is a good idea to do so. One may wonder what the historical significance of the jail is which is quite obvious, it has been around for quite some time and has proven a success throughout history, which is why there are so many jails around today. The jails historical role was to hold prisoners that were waiting for their trial or punishment. The...
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...I am requesting your support in sponsoring or co-sponsor this holistic home detention monitoring bill. The criminal justice system has now realized long term prison terms do not result in assisting the goal of enhancing re-entry into the community. The Maryland General Assembly and Governor Hogan’s administration saw the correlation between criminal justice and the community and passed The Justice Reinvestment Act. However, this legislation failed to address the needs of non-violent offenders who still desperately require intensive rehabilitation services. The types of services which the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Service cannot provide given its fiscal and human resources constraints. By removing non-violent offenders from...
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...At first, this argument makes relative sense, “violent crime rates have fluctuated over the years and bear little relationship to incarceration rates—which have soared during the past three decades regardless of whether violent crime was going up or down” (Alexander 101). Even while violent crime rates decline, incarceration rates climb; these two variables should have a dependent correlation, but it appears they do not. However, in response to violent crime, legislators placed longer sentences for less severe crimes to prevent more violent crime in the future (Forman 48). While it may be compelling to simply accept that the War on Drugs caused the prison population spike, it did not; violent crime contributed...
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...Effective Communication Paper Teresa Moody CJA/304 March 9, 2015 Scott Mann University of Phoenix EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION PAPER Communication, something that is done on a daily basis. It is two or more people who convey information. The sender first has an idea, which is composed of a message and then transmitted to the other party, who interprets the message and receives meaning. Sometimes the communication is effective, but not efficient. The Process of Verbal and Nonverbal Communication and the Associated Components of eachTelephone conversations are just one form of verbal communication. Verbal and Nonverbal communications are the backbone of society. (A.E. Hurt) Verbal communication involves speaking whereas nonverbal is the body language a person gives and usually is not aware that they are doing this. You can separate the two but often they go hand in hand. It begins with the person (the sender) who starts the communication, the message they send and the person (the receiver) who receives the message. (A.E. Hurt) Nonverbal communication is done face to face since it is body language you must be able to see the person to see what kind of body language they put out, and their facial expressions when speaking. Nonverbal communication can say a lot about a person when they speak. They have a particular tone of their voice, do they look angry, happy. This is where both verbal and nonverbal communication come together you're your face to face...
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...Is There Really Celebrity Justice? Under the United States Constitution it states, that all men are created equal. Numerous, people believe that all are not equal, and all are not treated the same in today’s so-called “equal” justice system. “There can be no equal justice where the kind of trial a man gets depends on the amount of money he has” (Cole 3) In one source, many people argue that our criminal justice system is based on the premise and promise of equality before the law, but at times predicate on the exploitation of inequality (Cole 5) Some feel no matter the crime, the rich and famous will find a way to settle out of court, pay off witnesses or just erase some or all charges against them. Celebrities get the best lawyers and the best chance at justice that money can buy”. (“Times”) There are many court cases that lead people to believe the justice system is unfair. Celebrities, in the eyes of the public, receive less time than the average American citizen for the same crime. Furthermore, celebrities also receive more publicity than the average American citizen. Why do celebrities receive more camera time and less punishment time? However, our judicial system claims that all men are equal in the court of law. For example, in the court case of Marcus Dixon, a high school football player at Pepperell High School in Floyd County, Georgia, the state Supreme Court sentenced Dixon to ten years in prison. He was a black athlete accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old...
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...Criminal Records in the Digital Age: A Review of Current Practices and Recommendations for Reform in Texas Helen Gaebler, Senior Research Attorney William Wayne Justice Center for Public Interest Law The University of Texas School of law March 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................4 II. THE PROBLEM: CRIMINAL RECORDS AND COLLATERAL CONSEQUENCES .........................................5 Collateral Consequences Overview ......................................................................................................... 5 Who’s Affected? A Look at the Numbers in Texas .................................................................................. 8 Disproportionality and the Criminal Justice System .............................................................................. 10 Reaching Across Generations and Communities ................................................................................... 11 III. AN OUTDATED SYSTEM: OPEN ACCESS TO CRIMINAL RECORDS .................................................... 12 The Background Checking Industry........................................................................................................ 12 Common Practices and Pitfalls............................................................................................................... 13 Past Calls for Reform .....................
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...Introduction to Criminal Justice Electronic Monitoring and House Arrest Katelyn Fritz November 24, 2013 Introduction Electronic Monitoring (EM) and house arrest (HA) is a system that has been met with both trepidation and acceptance since its integration in the 1980’s. Though it goes by many names, including Community Sentencing and Intermediate sanctions, it still maintains a single identity. It is a form of punishment for offenders as an alternative to incarceration. This program applies to offenders chosen at the judge’s discretion and is based upon the offenders compliance, the nature of the infraction, and the burden on the system. Involved is a period of time where the offender is confined to his home under the supervision of a probation officer and some form of electronic monitoring. These monitoring options include the random call method (RC), an ankle monitor using radio frequency (RF) or GPS technology, or a combination thereof (Burell & Gable, 2008). Electronic monitoring is touted as an ideal means of reducing overcrowding in jails and prisons, but how effect is electronic monitoring and house arrest really? More than 30 years after its integration, there are several issues that have developed, or that have yet to be resolved. To demonstrate this lets us look at one example that occurred in the year 2000. Gerald A. Jones, a young, 18 year old man, was convicted of a robbery after sticking a gun into a woman’s face and stealing her watch. As a...
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