CHAPTER EIGHT

1. CHAPTER EIGHT SENTENCING

2. Introduction • Government determines sanction range for each offense • Judge or jury responsible for sentencing • Broad range of potential criminal sentences • Probation, fines, community service • Incarceration • Death Penalty

3. Responsibility for Sentencing Decisions • Prosecuting and Defense Attorneys • Initial charges define sentencing options • Plea bargaining implies a suggested sentence • Probation officer prepares pre-sentence investigation report • Ultimate decision rests with the judge • Must agree to plea bargaining • May prescribe any sentence consistent with legislative guidelines • Jury must determine sentencing in capital cases • Jury determines liability and compensation in civil cases

4. Misdemeanor Sentences • Probation • Community Service • Fines • Incarceration

5. Probation • Period of supervision by the corrections system • Elements of probation • Criminal sentence • Judicial function • Conditional • Supervision by probation officers • Types of probation • Active—offender reports to a probation officer and must abide by court-imposed conditions • Informal (summary)—probation without supervision

6. Community Service • Goal is to minimize negative effects while giving back to the community • Potential services • Cleaning parks • Removing graffiti • Washing public vehicles • Working at an animal shelter • Many others

7. Fines • Primarily for traffic violations and petty misdemeanors • Not all people have the same ability to pay • Some courts have day fine systems, in which fine is determined by: • Penalty days • Individual’s income

8. Incarceration • Petty misdemeanors: up to 6 months in jail • Serious misdemeanors: 6 months to 1 year in jail • Judge may suspend jail time • Judge may impose consecutive misdemeanor sentences

9. Felony Sentences • Community-Based Sanctions • Probation • Economic Sanctions • Incarceration • Capital Punishment

10. Community-Based Sanctions • Placement in a live-in facility • Provides treatment and structure for offenders • Probation • Often used for property or drug offenses • Fewer felons have received probation in recent years • Economic Sanctions • Increasing reliance by the court system • Often used for crimes with a profit motive (drug trafficking, RICO) • Includes fines and property forfeiture • May be used alone or in conjunction with other punishments

11. Incarceration • Shock Incarceration • Short period of incarceration, followed by an extended probation period • Designed as a specific deterrence • May be incarcerated in a local jail • Sentences of 1 year to life • Average sentence is 57 months • Violent offenders more likely to receive prison sentences

12. Capital Punishment • Controversial issue • Part of sentencing scheme since nation’s founding • State decides whether death penalty is permissible • Involves a bifurcated hearing process • Juries must consider aggravating and mitigating circumstances • Jury verdicts must be unanimous

13. Sentencing Decision Making Process • Prosecuting Attorneys • Decision whether to prosecute • Decision about what crimes to charge • Horizontal overcharging: charging defendant with as many different offenses or counts as possible • Vertical overcharging: charging a defendant with a more serious crime than the evidence supports • Gives the prosecutor an advantage in plea bargaining • Judges • Choice among legislatively-defined sentences • Decision to suspend the sentence • Choice of concurrent or consecutive sentences

14. Sentencing Strategies Employed • Indeterminate Sentencing • Determinate Sentencing • Structured Sentencing • Mandatory Sentencing

15. Indeterminate Sentencing • Minimum and maximum periods of confinement specified • Emphasizes individualization and rehabilitation • Judge imposes sentence • Actual time serve determined by parole board

16. Determinate Sentencing • Provides a specific amount of time to be served • Discretionary parole is abolished • Release date is established by court sentence minus good time credit • Movement toward determinate sentencing resulted from political criticism

17. Structured Sentencing • Sentencing guidelines define sentences for each crime • Utilizes a 2-dimensional sentencing grid • Present offense • Defendant’s criminal history • Other factors (age, race, socio-economic status, drug use, employment history, etc) are not considered • Goals • Allows policymakers to control sentencing policies • Can be linked to available prison space • Promotes development and expansion of community corrections alternatives • Attempts to eliminate disparities in sentencing

18. Mandatory Sentencing • All states and the federal government have some form of mandatory sentencing • Assures that certain offenders receive a specified prison term • Habitual offender laws • Constitutional challenges

19. Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in Sentencing • Minorities • Debate over disproportionate sentencing for minorities • Blacks constitute 12.8% of population and 38% of convicted felons • Whites constitute the majority of all felon categories except weapons offenses • Gender • Women constitute 50.7% of the population and 18% of convicted felons • Women most often commit property crimes, drug offenses, and “other” felonies • Reasons for underrepresentation of women • Women are better at the crimes they commit and escape apprehension • Women are less likely to commit crimes • Criminal justice system is less likely to sanction women (chivalry hypothesis)

20. Trends in Sentencing • Movement toward determinate sentencing • Sentencing guidelines • Increased punitiveness • Truth in sentencing • Capital Punishment