1. Chapter 3 Sentencing: To Punish or to Reform?

2. Learning Objectives
Describe the central purpose of criminal punishment
Name the seven goals of criminal sentencing
List and explain the sentencing options in general use today

3. Learning Objectives (continued 1)
Describe the characteristics of persons on death row today
Summarize the research on victim race and capital punishment
Summarize the changes in the public’s attitudes toward capital punishment

4. Learning Objectives (continued 2)
Discuss the changes in the application of capital punishment as a result of Furman v. Georgia and Gregg v. Georgia
Explain the death penalty appeals process
Summarize Liebman’s findings on the frequency of errors in capital punishment cases

5. Learning Objectives (continued 3)
Explain the Supreme Court’s reasoning for banning the execution of persons with mental retardation and juveniles
Discuss federal and state sentencing trends and reforms
Integrate the four principles related to fairness in sentencing for a hypothetical offense and offender

6. Sentencing Imposition of a criminal sanction by a sentencing authority
Sentence: Penalty a court imposes on a person convicted of a crime
Social order: Smooth functioning of social institutions, positive relations among individual members of society, and orderly functioning of society as a whole

7. Goals of Sentencing Revenge: Punishment as vengeance
Emotional response to real or imagined injury or insult
Retribution: Retaliation against a criminal perpetrator
Belief that victims are entitled to reprisal
Just deserts: Punishment deserved
Offenders are morally blameworthy and hence deserving of punishment

8. Goals of Sentencing (continued 1)
Deterrence: Discouragement or prevention of crimes through the fear of punishment
Specific deterrence: Deterrence of the individual being punished from additional crimes
General deterrence: Use of the example of individual punishment to dissuade others from committing crimes

9. Goals of Sentencing (continued 2)
Pleasure-pain principle: Idea that actions are motivated primarily by a desire to experience pleasure and avoid pain
Incapacitation: Use of imprisonment or other means to reduce an offender’s capability to commit future offenses
Three-strikes laws
Truth in sentencing

10. Goals of Sentencing (continued 3)
Rehabilitation: Changing of criminal lifestyles into law-abiding ones
Involves correction of behavior through treatment, education, and training
Reintegration: Process of making the offender a productive member of the community

11. Goals of Sentencing (continued 4)
Restoration: Process of returning to their previous condition all those involved in or affected by crime
Restorative justice: Systematic response to wrongdoing that emphasizes healing the wounds of victims, offenders, and communities caused or revealed by crime
Victim-impact statement: Description of the suffering that a crime has caused victims

12. Restorative Justice or Community Justice Programs
Victim–offender mediation
Victim–offender reconciliation
Victim-impact panels
Restorative justice panels
Community reparative boards
Community-based courts
Family group conferences
Circle sentencing
Court diversion programs
Peer mediation

13. Sentencing Options Probation Intermediate sanctions Jail and prison
Parole
Capital punishment
Restitution: Payments made to the victim by a criminal offender as compensation for the harm caused

14. Types of Sentences
Mandatory sentences: Sentences required by law under certain circumstances
Consecutive sentences: Sentences served one after the other
Imposed when a person is convicted of multiple offenses
Concurrent sentences: Sentences served together

15. Types of Sentences (continued 1)
Flat sentences: Specify an amount of time to be served in custody and do not allow variation from the time specified
Indeterminate sentences: Judge specifies a maximum and minimum length of time, and a parole board determines the actual time of release

16. Types of Sentences (continued 2)
Determinate sentence: Sentence of a fixed term of incarceration
Can be reduced by good time
Good time - Amount of time prison authorities deduct from a sentence for good behavior or other reasons
Presumptive sentence: Expected sentence
Developed by a sentencing commission

17. Types of Sentences (continued 3)
Sentencing commission: Creates a schedule of sentences that reflect the gravity of the offenses committed and the prior record of the offender
Sentencing enhancements: Legislatively approved provisions that mandate longer prison terms:
For specific criminal offenses committed under certain circumstances
Because of an offender’s past criminal record

18. Capital Punishment Lawful imposition of the death penalty
Was once common throughout the world
Began changing in the 18th century during the Enlightenment

19. Exhibit 3.4 - Jurisdictions with and without the Death Penalty

20. Exhibit 3.5 - People Executed, 1976–2015

21. Exhibit 3.6 - Characteristics of Prisoners Under Sentence of Death, January 1, 2016

22. Victim Race and Capital Punishment
Victim race has a high impact on the jurisdiction

23. Methods of Execution Lethal injection Electrocution Lethal gas Hanging
Firing squad

24. Arguments for and against the Death Penalty
Pros
Deters people from committing crime
Just punishment for murder
Constitutionally appropriate
Reduces time spent on death rows, thereby reducing costs
Protects society
More humane than life imprisonment
It is almost impossible for an innocent person to be executed
Cons
Does not deter crime
Violates human rights
Falls disproportionately on racial minorities
Costs too much
Boosts the murder rate leading to the brutalizing effect
Not everyone wants vengeance
Arbitrary and unfair

25. Courts and the Death Penalty
Mandatory death penalty
Death sentence that the legislature has required to be imposed upon people convicted of certain offenses
Guided discretion
Decision making bounded by general guidelines, rules, or laws
Bifurcated trial
Two separate hearings for different issues in a trial, one for guilt and the other for punishment
Mitigating circumstances
Factors that may reduce the culpability of the offender
Aggravating circumstances
Factors that may increase the culpability of the offender

26. Appealing the Death Penalty
Legal issues about the trial and sentence are appealed to the state appellate courts
Serious error: Error that substantially undermines the reliability of the guilt finding or death sentence imposed at trial
If the defendant’s direct appeals are unsuccessful and the Supreme Court denies review, state postconviction appeals begin

27. Exhibit 3.8 - The Capital Criminal Process: Trial through State and Federal Postconvictions

28. Appealing the Death Penalty (continued)
AEDPA defines filing deadlines and limits reasons for second, or successive, federal appellate reviews to:
New constitutional law
New evidence that could not have been discovered at the time of the original trial
New facts that, if proven, would be sufficient to establish the applicant’s innocence

29. Wrongful Convictions and Capital Punishment
Errors found by the Liebman study
Incompetent defense lawyering
Prosecutorial suppression of evidence
Cost of serious errors
Danger to society
Monetary settlements

30. Exhibit 3.9 - The Attrition of Capital Judgments

31. Reforms Suggested to Avoid Wrongful Convictions
Require proof beyond any doubt that the defendant committed the capital crime
Require that aggravating factors substantially outweigh mitigating ones
Bar the death penalty for people with extenuating circumstances
Make life imprisonment without parole an alternative to the death penalty
Abolish judge overrides of jury verdicts imposing life sentences

32. Reforms Suggested to Avoid Wrongful Convictions (continued)
Use comparative review of murder sentences
Base charging decisions in potentially capital cases on full and informed deliberations
Make all police and prosecution evidence available to the jury at trial
Insulate capital sentencing and appellate judges from political pressure
Identify, appoint, and compensate capital defense counsel to attract well-qualified lawyers

33. Banning the Execution of People with Mental Retardation
Held by court as cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Eighth Amendment
Courts left the definition of mental retardation up to individual states
IQ score of 70 or below is generally considered an indicator of mental retardation

34. Juveniles and the Death Penalty
Unconstitutional and in violation of the Eighth Amendment
Reasons for being banned
Reflects evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society
Juveniles are not the same as adults even though the crimes might be the same
Out of line with other developed countries

35. Sentencing Trends and Reforms
Reduced disparity in the amounts of powder and crack cocaine offenses
Mandatory minimum sentencing

36. Fair Sentencing
Sentencing practices that incorporate fairness for both victims and offenders

37. Issues in Sentencing Proportionality
Severity of punishment should match the seriousness of the crime
Equity
Similar crimes and offenders should be treated alike