StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Guidelines - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Guidelines 11th, February, 2013 Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Guidelines Introduction The dominance of the new penology perspective in the majority of advanced countries of the West during the last 3 decades has led to increased homogenization of their criminal justice systems…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER94.1% of users find it useful
Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Guidelines
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Guidelines"

Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Guidelines 11th, February, Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Guidelines Introduction The dominance of the new penology perspective in the majority of advanced countries of the West during the last 3 decades has led to increased homogenization of their criminal justice systems. In areas of criminal law and in context of sentencing regimes there has been displacement of mandatory sentences by discretionary sentencing systems. One of the burning issues of criminal justice, which has remained controversial, is the way sentencing judges exercise discretion.

This has led to introduction of various legislative prescriptions to guide judges while exercising sentence discretion. In the United States, the guidelines have focused on different aspects, such as minimum sentencing as well as grid for sentencing. Mandatory sentencing guidelines may focus on a single form of crime or all forms of crime. This essay will describe the logic behind the development of new regime of mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines in the United States and Canada. The focus will be made on how the sentencing guidelines have changed.

From 1970, there was a considerable increase in crimes in the Western world, which resulted in enactment of tough laws that aimed at controlling crime rates. In the 1990s, the level of crimes continued to grow steadily. This led to increased number of criminals within prisons in countries, such as Canada and the United States. Moreover, there was tendency according to which offenders of similar crimes were getting different sentences. Therefore, there was need for a revision of system that ensured fairness in sentencing.

This resulted in enactment of laws aimed at ensuring there was a mandatory minimum sentence that perpetrators of certain crimes received (Beale, 2006). Mandatory sentencing has become a common phenomenon in the said countries. However, the issues regarding jurisdiction are still debatable. This has led to enactment of guidelines in order to ensure that there is consistency in sentencing (Beale, 2006). Over the recent past, Canada has witnessed evolution of mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines.

There has been increase in crime within Canada and the need for laws that separate offenders from the society appeared so that to deter them from engaging in unlawful activity. The guidelines are now focused on prevention of crime and maintenance of justice and peace within the society through the use of certain sanctions that are to range according to the type of offence. The mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines in Canada require the sentence an offender gets to be proportionate to the offence.

Moreover, the sentence should reflect the level of restraint of the offender. Mandatory sentencing guidelines in Canada require judges to consider certain factors when sentencing offenders. These factors include the aspects that lead to aggravation in crimes, such as organized crimes, global terrorism crimes, crimes related to spouse or child victimization, and those crimes committed by person in certain positions of authority (Shahidullah, 2012). The mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines guide judges on the minimum sentences perpetrators of certain crime should get.

For example, perpetrators of first degree and second-degree murder receive a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison. Minimum sentencing guideline in Canada guide judges on minimum sentences on firearm offenses, repeat offenders, and hybrid offenders. Moreover, the guidelines include crimes that require mandatory life sentencing. In Canada, most minimum mandatory sentences deal with firearm possession and related crimes. For example, the minimum imprisonment for possession of unauthorized loaded firearms is a three years’ imprisonment.

However, repeated prosecution for possession of firearms results in a minimum of five years in jail. In the United States, the guidelines for sentencing offenders were established in 1984. The guidelines were based on considering of the conduct and characteristics of offender when deciding on the appropriate minimum sentence. For example, the State of California enacted the law, which requires second or more time perpetrators of serious offenses to get a minimum mandatory sentence of 25 years in prison.

In the 1990s, there was increased use of incarceration, which resulted in decreased rate of crime. With time, the guidelines have evolved and altered felony sentencing in the entire United States. In the recent past, there have been increased tendencies to sentence offenders with milder sentences than the guidelines require. Generally, the range of sanction for various crimes has been narrowed down. Moreover, laws regarding mandatory minimum sentence have been enacted. Therefore, certain crimes, such as drug trafficking and violent crime, have specified minimum sentences.

This ensures that offenders of similar crime get similar sentence. This prevents judges from considering factors such as culpability while deciding on the appropriate sentence (Ministry of Justice, 1997). Conclusion Starting from the 1990s, the criminal justice systems began to evolve through enactment of sentencing guidelines. Most countries have homogenized sentencing strategies that provide guidelines for minimum sentences for various kinds of offence. The guidelines aim at ensuring that the offenders are sentenced according to the seriousness of crimes committed and the level of their responsibility.

Mandatory sentences guide the judges ensure that offenders of a similar crime get the same sentence. References Beale, S. (2006). The news media's influence on criminal justice policy: How market-driven news promotes punitiveness. William and Mary Law Review, Volume 48 (2), 397-481. Ministry of Justice. (1997, November). Sentencing policy and guidance - A discussion paper. Retrieved from ww.justice.govt.nz/publications/global-publications/s/sentencing-policy-and-guidance-a-discussion-paper Shahidullah, S. (2012). Comparative criminal justice systems: Global and local perspectives.

New York: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Read More
Tags
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Guidelines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/law/1467914-mandatory-minimum-sentencing-guidelines
(Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Guidelines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words)
https://studentshare.org/law/1467914-mandatory-minimum-sentencing-guidelines.
“Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Guidelines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/law/1467914-mandatory-minimum-sentencing-guidelines.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Mandatory Minimum Sentencing Guidelines

The Impact of Sentencing Guidelines

The Impact of sentencing guidelines Institution Affiliation: Date: There has been an increased growth and use of sentencing guidelines in the US in the last couple of years.... The increased use of sentencing guidelines has triggered enormous and intensive debates in regard to their impact on the justice system of the United States.... Jurisdictions where these sentencing guidelines have been enacted have been critically analyzed, highlighting the pros and cons of the sentencing guidelines....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Corrections to Jail Convicting: Sentencing Policies and Regulations

sentencing guidelines entail focusing on the gravity of the crime committed and the defendant's criminal history before the determination of the length of sentencing.... sentencing guidelines in indeterminate sentencing entail parole issuance, but the judge is given an opportunity to determine the appropriate sentence length.... Indeterminate sentencing, sentencing guidelines afford the judge the mandate to set fixed sentences.... Voluntary sentencing guidelines entail states issuing suggestive sentences to judges but do not require their use....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

The Landscape of American Sentencing

Many jurisdictions have created sentencing commissions, some have abolished parole boards, all have enacted mandatory penalty statutes for selected crimes, and a growing number have adopted sentencing guidelines (Tonry, 2000).... These include explosions in the number of sentenced offenders, as well as structural re-orderings of the laws that govern sentencing.... Rehabilitation, once the guiding theoretical light of American sentencing structures, has fallen by the wayside in the past two and a half decades, leaving policy makers scrambling for an alternative blueprint....
31 Pages (7750 words) Essay

Limited Success of Drug Courts

This essay stresses that a judge's time and discretionary authority could be better spent away from mandatory minimum sentencing, or rehabilitation, rather than punitive punishments for those with addiction problems.... mandatory minimum sentences under the 1984 Sentencing Reform Act tend to favor the perspective that it is better to punish than to rehabilitate.... nbsp; Opponents of mandatory sentencing argue that judges lose control over sentencing and cannot apply discretion given the particular facts of a case....
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

The Issue of Racial Discrimination in the United States

Before the introduction of the federal compulsory minimum sentencing in 1986 for drugs related violations, the federal drug sentencing in the case of African Americans was higher by 11 percent as compared to whites.... Racial inequality is enhanced by the difference in penalties for the… The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 established mandatory minimum sentences for possession of specific amounts of cocaine.... However, it also established a 100-to-1 disparity between distribution and a Currently in legislation is the Fairness in Cocaine sentencing Act of 2009, which would equalize penalties for crack and powder cocaine, thus correcting the injustice....
9 Pages (2250 words) Research Paper

Ch13

The main guidelines include, retribution, vengeance, deterrence and incapacitation.... Apart from these, other forms of punishment for crime may include such things as fines,… Prison sentences can be grouped into three categories; flat or determinant which is established by the legislature, indeterminate which is either fixed minimum or fixed maximum and the last one is where the parole board CH13 Sentencing of criminals by a court of law is a procedural event and follows a number of guidelines....
1 Pages (250 words) Admission/Application Essay

Indeterminate Sentencing Laws

Apart from this, sentencing guidelines were also adopted to prevent ambiguous sentencing.... The legislature, therefore, instituted mandatory minimum sentences that had to be served irrespective of good behavior.... The author of the essay "Indeterminate sentencing Laws" states that sentencing laws have undergone a lot of changes throughout the years as a result of intense debate among politicians, the legislature as well as the public....
1 Pages (250 words) Essay

Recommendations for the Implementation of the Prison Term Policy

If first, lawmakers reform existing guidelines that punish consensual acts in the same manner as violent ones, then they can enact more stringent penalties without harming law-abiding citizens.... or more than a quarter of a century, legislators have continually updated sentencing regulations by enacting guideline-based mandatory sentences.... The trend toward more stringent sentencing reforms has had sufficient time to be thoroughly researched and specific conclusions drawn from these studies....
7 Pages (1750 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us