Posted: September 1st, 2022

Criminal Sentences

Criminal Sentences
Using the required resources for this module and through research on the subject, develop an essay that:

Identify the different types of criminal sentences.
Compare and contrast the major philosophies of punishment and how each are aligned with different sentences.
Your essay:

Must be a minimum of 700 words (not including title and reference pages)
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Must include a separate title page with the following:
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Must utilize an academic voice.
Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph.
Must use at least three (3) scholarly, peer-reviewed, or other credible sources.
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Criminal Sentences
In a criminal case, after the defendant pleads guilty or is convicted, the judge is given appropriate punishment in the sentencing phase. According to various circumstances, the judge can either reduce or enhance a sentence based on the defendant’s factors or the crime. A sentence involves incarceration, fines, suspended sentence, probation, community service, restitution, and participation in rehabilitation programs (Frankel, 1973). above all that, there are various types of sentences that a judge can give the offender. They include an absolute discharge, the lowest-level adult sentence that an offender can get. Here, a finding of guilt is made, but convictions are not registered, and no conditions are given to be followed, although the criminal record stays for a year after the discharge date.
Two is the conditional discharge, which is similar to absolute discharge since there are no convictions registered. However, there are conditions that the offender has to follow, which come in a probation order and effect from one to three years. It stays on record for three years after completing the probation order. Three is the suspended sentence, which involves following probation order conditions for one to three years. The difference between conditional discharge and a suspended sentence is that a conviction is registered against the offender and will have to apply pardon to remove it from the record. Four is probation, a court order to do or not to do some things for some time. Five is fine; usually, the amount of money an offender has to pay to the court. A conviction is registered against the offender, and they will have to apply for a pardon to have the fine removed from the record.
Six is the jail imprisonment whereby the offender is taken to jail, and a conviction is registered against them (Von Hirsch, 2017). There are times that judges give the offenders credit time to stay in jail before a sentence, known as presentence custody or dead time, and it is used in reducing the jail sentence length. Seven is the intermittent sentence whereby the offender serves chunks of time instead of all at once. For example, the offender may go to jail on weekends but be out during weekdays. The final one is the conditional sentence or the house arrest, where strict jail-like conditions are imposed on an offender unless if serving a sentence out of jail. They spend their sentence in their house, and the conviction is registered against the offender.
Five philosophies are used in justifying the punishment given to the criminal lawbreakers. They include retribution, incapacitation, rehabilitation, deterrence, and restoration (Cederblom, 2020). These philosophies mostly come from our common sense and human nature. For example, we find retribution and incapacitation perfectly applying to those situations from the stories we tell ourselves. A television watcher who loves the cop shows like Blue Bloods, among others, gets a glimpse of what happens when a crime is committed and the immediate aftermath. The bad person always lies down to avoid being caught.
There is also that part where everyone knows who committed the crime, but the defense attorney will try fooling the jury otherwise. There is also the part where the suspect is put to jail, which vindicates the watcher’s sense of right and wrong. The watcher might revel in the just desserts aspect of the punishment and verdict, and that is what is referred to as sentencing philosophies of retribution and incapacitation. The most common form of disciplinary punishment is imprisonment, while incapacitation is a capital sentence that means imprisonment. Incapacitation means taking an offender to prison.
Rehabilitation and deterrence fall under the scholarly approach to criminal justice. For example, the progressive law professor has studied and taught principles of law for quite some time. Therefore, he understands that people are complex beings. That means that motivations for crimes people commit may dictate the type of punishment to be given. The professor might advocate that the person can be changed, or rehabilitated, into a law-abiding citizen. The person could also not be merely punished but giving examples of these criminals is made to deter those intent to break the law. Rehabilitation is like curing offenders of breaking the law. Rehabilitation and deterrence fall under probation.
Restoration can be applied in life from the victim’s point of view. For example, a theft victim whose car has been broken into and the wallet has been stolen to use credit cards in buying all kinds of goods the victim cares less about the criminal as long as he gets caught. The victim cares about getting his life together as to how it was before the incident, which means he seeks restoration. Generally, restoration is when an offender makes restitution to the victim or pays back for damages or stolen property. A criminal offender could give absolute discharge where he can leave on the same day, and no convictions are recorded.
In conclusion, deterrence tries to convince people not to violate the law or commit a crime. Rehabilitation is when the criminal justice system tries to stop criminal behavior by curing offenders from breaking the law. Incapacitation means preventing crimes and isolation of offenders from the rest of society in prison. Retribution is the penalty based on the eye to eye concept of criminal punishment. Restoration is when an offender pays back anything lost or damages to the victim. There are additional sanctions given by the judge to the offender like cash value, community service, or any program that the judge feels fit for the offender depending on the crime committed.

References
Frankel, M. (1973). Criminal sentences.
Von Hirsch, A. (2017). Deserved Criminal Sentences. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Cederblom, J. (2020). Philosophies of Punishment. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

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