Corrections Today, 5e, Chapter 2: Sentencing Process

• Corrections Today, 5e, Chapter 2 delves into sentencing and the correctional process.

Actors in the Sentencing Process

• Prosecutors open the cases, highlighting key participants like Reta Mays.
• Prosecutors are appointed or elected officials responsible for presenting the state's case, seeking justice, and securing convictions, with a key role in plea bargains.
• Judges, as senior criminal court officers, are often elected.
• Judges uphold the Constitution by ruling on conduct, settling evidence-related motions, deciding bench trial verdicts, and determining sentencing.
• Probation staff conduct presentence investigations (PSI), interviewing involved parties, collecting relevant documents, and recommending sentences based on crime circumstances, which are usually followed.
• Pretrial Release Officers recommend defendants for pretrial release.

Bail

• Bail involves the temporary conditional release of the accused while awaiting trial.
• Conditions include not leaving the jurisdiction, avoiding victim contact, committing no crimes, and ensuring the accused's return for trial.
• Bail bondsmen can be used.
• Pretrial release types include Release on Own Recognizance (ROR) and bail.
• Bail may require a percentage paid to the clerk, third-party involvement, or a signature bond for minor offenses, or a supervised release option with probation/parole.
• Concerns exist regarding cash bail and potential discrimination.
• The Manhattan Bail Project, by the Vera Institute of Justice, New York, provided ROR for eligible offenders.
• The Bail Reform Act of 1966 urged pretrial release for non capital cases unless the defendant poses a flight risk.
• The Bail Reform Act of 1984 formalized preventative detention provisions.

Imposing Sentences

• Sentences can be concurrent (served simultaneously) or consecutive (served one after the other).
• "Good time" involves reducing incarceration time for good behavior.
• Sentencing sanctions vary by jurisdiction, including diversionary programs, fines, probation, intermediate sanctions, incarceration, and the death penalty.
• Twenty-three states do not have the death penalty, including Iowa since 1965.

Sentencing Models

• Indeterminate sentencing considers individual needs, establishing a sentence range with minimum and maximum terms.
• It is criticized for sentencing disparities and shifting discretion from judges to parole boards.
• Over 30 states use this model.
• Determinate sentencing involves definite terms, including flat-time, mandatory, and presumptive sentences.
• The Federal Determinate Sentencing Law (DSL) was enacted in 1977.
• Twelve states have implemented determinate sentencing reforms.
• Structured sentences regulate sentence length.
• The first states to implement presumptive sentencing guidelines include Minnesota, Washington, Pennsylvania, and Florida.
• Sentencing guidelines are utilized in about twenty states and at the federal level.
• Presumptive sentencing involves penalties set by the legislature for criminal acts.

Robbery Example

• In a robbery case from February 1, 2015, Defendant A planned and directed a co-participant in robbing a bank.

Federal Sentencing Guidelines

• The guidelines resulted from the Comprehensive Crime Control Act (1984) & Sentencing Reform Act (1984).
• Congress adopted the guidelines; federal judges are bound until contrary rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Federal parole was abolished, and the United States Sentencing Commission was created in 1984.
• Judges must justify any guideline deviations.
• Evaluations include concerns about complexity, bias, and harshness toward offenders.
• The United States v. Booker (2005) case made the guidelines "advisory" rather than mandatory.
• Continued amendments exist
• Mandatory minimum sentences aim to specify incarceration years for particular crimes.
• The legislature may prohibit probation for specific offenses.
• The legislature may require mandatory imprisonment terms for certain offenses.
• Three-Strikes Laws mandate tougher sentences without parole for those convicted of a third serious felony.
• Truth-in-Sentencing laws require offenders to serve a significant part of their imposed sentence, reducing time discrepancies.
• Federal incentive grants require 85% of the sentence to be served.

How People Are Sentenced

• 75% of convicted felons are incarcerated in state prison or jail, compared to 56% of those with misdemeanors.
• 1 in 4 felony convictions and 1 in 3 misdemeanor convictions lead to probation.
• Murder convictions receive the longest median sentence.
• The next longest medians were for rape.
• Within three years, 62% of released prisoners are arrested for a new offense.
• Within five years post-release, 71% are arrested.
• 46% of those released in 2012 returned within five years for probation, parole violation, or new sentence.
• Recidivism rates are lower for older individuals.
• Males (72%) are more likely than females (63%) to be rearrested.
• American sentencing practices share ties to social, cultural, and political factors.
• American incarceration sentences are far longer than other industrialized nations.
• The US is the only advanced nation to incarcerate people for minor property crimes.
• Legal factors impacting sentencing include offense severity, prior record, weapon use, violence, and monetary motives.
• Nonlegal factors include contextual elements, social class, gender, age, and victim characteristics.
• Black offenders commonly receive harsher sentences than White offenders, even considering criminal history and offense severity.
• System disparity, rather than judicial bias, causes conditions that produce sentencing disparity.