Posted: August 9th, 2022

Ethics of Sentencing

Ethics of Sentencing

Assignment help – Discussion Board #1 Prompt

Read the passage below and address the points outlined below the dilemma.

Two individuals are being sentenced for the exact same crime of burglary. You are the judge. One the individuals is a 22-year-old single mother of two children who has one arrest on her record for marijuana possession and two shoplifting convictions. She is the sole caretaker for her two kids and was recently laid off her minimum wage job, but is actively looking for employment. The second individual is a 27-year-old male with a history of nonviolent offending including drug crimes, theft, and burglary. He appears to be a repeat offender and has a history of drug use.

How would you sentence these offenders?
You need to describe the sentence you would impose for each offender – would it be the same for each person or different?
What is the ethical system underlying your decision? You will need to explain the ethical system and how your decision in #1 is consistent with that system.
Do you think your sentencing decision would result in “justice” in this specific case? What about in the long-run, would your decision result in “justice”? Explain.
Reminders for Grading (refer to syllabus and discussion board rubric for full details):

You must make at least two contributions a week to the discussion board. This includes: your own response to the discussion question(s) AND at least one response to other posts in the discussion area. You must ANSWER ALL PARTS OF THE QUESTION(S).
Comments to other students’ discussion posts cannot be “I agree/disagree.” You must provide substantive feedback in responses to other students’ post. This means you must provide an explanation for why you agree or disagree, and/or raise possible concerns/questions you may have regarding the arguments set forth in the post.
You must cite any source(s) you use to support your statements/arguments. All citations should be in Help write my thesis – APA format. DO NOT COPY AND PASTE INFORMATION from sources – this is plagiarism! If you copy and paste information in your discussion post, then you will be given a zero for the assignment.
Each discussion post is worth 6% of your final grade. Half of your grade is based on your original response to the discussion question(s) and the remainder is based on your response to other posts in the discussion board. To receive full credit for the assignment, you must answer/address all parts of the discussion prompt.
Incorporate course readings into your posts (original and response). See syllabus and rubric for details

***USE THIS BOOK PLEASE AS A SOURCE: Pollock, J. M. (2019). Ethical dilemmas and decisions in criminal
justice, 10th edition. Boston, MA: Cengage

Ethics of Sentencing
Judges usually do have incredible powers and discretion. Pollock (2019) outline that the employ these powers in decision to accept or deny plea bargains, decisions pertaining rules of evidence and more importantly decisions about sentencing. In the case of burglary by a 22-year old single mother with two children and a record of marijuana possession as well as shoplifting, and that of burglary by a 27 year-old male with history of nonviolent offending, drug crimes, theft and burglary, the judge will have greater discretion in his sentencing as allowed by the law (Pollock, 2019). Nonetheless, the judges action will be led by the probability of the offenders to commit the crime in the future (recidivism) and their past.
It is more likely that the judge will offer a harsher sentence to the 27 year old male, as he is a repeat offender who has been convicted before, and after serving his time he again reoffended. Pollock (2019) speaks of corrective justice and stress that it aims to offer remedies and compensation to injured parties as well as provide just allocation of society’s good. The judge may show more leniency to the single mother on the account that she has two children and set her to pay a fine relative to the aspects stolen, or serve the community. This is because she has not been sentenced before.
The principle of veil of ignorance may fail to materialize within the judge since, while the crimes appear to be similar, one has a tendency to reoffend. The female will be treated more lenient as such. Sentencing her will also lead to her children being taken away from her, and as such create a harsher reality for her. Pollock (2019) identifies that with greater judges discretion, sentencing guidelines across the board have become more unfair for similar crime; and this was dependent on likelihood for an individual to reoffend, their background, and nature of the crime commit.
Base on the criminal justice system record of rehabilitation, and social inequality issues in America, in the short run, the victims of crime may find justice in both sentencing. On the contrary, research indicates that generally American criminal justice system fails to provide adequate rehabilitation, but seeks to punish the individual and not the crime, as well as criminalize poverty (Pollock, 2019). As such, there is a higher likelihood that the 27 year-old convicted is likely to reoffend, and in this case recommit to a life of crime after being released just as he was. This also implies that he is likely to be incarcerated longer or reappear in court for a second time after release.

References
Pollock, J. M. (2019). “Ethical Dilemmas And Decisions In Criminal Justice.” 10th edition.
Boston, MA: Cengage

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