Punishment and

1
Chapter 11

• Punishment and
• Sentencing

2
Chapter Objectives

• Understand the philosophical basis for criminal
  punishment
• Understand the goals and weaknesses of
  retribution, deterrence, and incapacitation
• Understand the nature and extent of various forms
  of criminal sanctions
• Understand the constitutionality of death penalty

3
Questions to Consider

• Why Do We Punish?
• How Do We Punish?
• Is the CJ system too lenient on criminal
  offenders?

4
Trends In Punishment
5
Retribution

• Classical eye for eye, tooth for tooth
• Punish offenders in proportion to crime
• Equality in punishment murder is murder
• Deserved punishment pay their debt

6
The Public Spectacle of Punishment

• Michel Foucaults (1977) Discipline and Punish
  (p. 5)
• After two or three attempts, the executioner
  Samson and he who had used the pincers each drew
  out a knife from his pocket and cut the body at
  the thighs instead of severing the legs at the
  joints the four horses gave a tug and carried
  off the two thighs after them, namely, that of
  the right side first, the other following then
  the same was done to the arms, the shoulders, the
  arms-pits and the four limbs the flesh had to be
  cut almost to the bone, the horses pulling hard
  carried off the right arm first and the other
  afterwards

7
Deterrence

• Roots in 18th Century Work of Jeremy Bentham
• Humans are rational, calculating beings
• Pleasure vs. Pain Determinations
• General Deterrence vs. Specific Deterrence

8
Incapacitation

• Prevention by physical restraint
• Prison most typical mode
• Future oriented
• Undue severity/Flawed Predictions?
• Growth in idea of selective incapacitation

9
Rehabilitation

• Primary sentencing ideology from 1940s-1970s
• Assumption Causes of Crime are Fixable
• Restoring convicted offender to a constructive
  place in society
• May result in indeterminate sentences

10
New Approaches to Punishment

• Restorative Justice
• Focus on Victims
• Undermines the development of community
• Restoration of victims losses
• Not Without Critics

11
Incarceration

• Most Visible
• Believed to have high Deterrent value
• Negative Consequences

12
Indeterminant Sentencing

• What Punishment Type (Retribution,
  Rehabilitation, Deterrence) is associated with
  Indeterminant Sentencing?
• Effects of Good Time

13
Determinant Sentencing

• Response to Perceived Failure of Rehabilitative
  Model
• Notion of Deserved Punishment
• Definitive, specified period of time

14
Mandatory Sentences

• Who should set penalties, Judges or Legislatures?
• Most commonly used for violent crimes, drug
  violations, habitual offenders, or crimes in
  which a firearm was used
• What Impact Might This Have On Courts and
  Corrections?
• Three Strikes Legislation

15
Probation

• Probation most common type of punishment
• Serves Punishment in Community While Supervised
• Shock Probation

16
Death Penalty

• Capital Punishment regularly carried out prior to
  1960s
• Page 405 Number of Individuals Sentenced to
  Death Increased Dramatically Since Early 1980s
• Overall number of Executions Has Remained Stable

17
Death Penalty Constitution

• The death penalty has nearly always been
  considered constitutional although the U.S.
  Supreme Court instituted moratorium during
  1968-1977
• Furman v. Georgia (1972)
• Gregg v. Georgia (1976)
• McCleskey v. Kemp (1987)