The Different Types Of Custodial Sentences

The Different Types Of Custodial Sentences For this report, I have decided to focus on the effectiveness of the use of non-custodial sentences and to explore how certain types of punishment may be the reason why some criminals re-offend. Observations Of the twenty cases I witnessed, almost three-quarters of them resulted in a community order sentence or fine, with a quarter either resulting in a conditional discharge, warrant of committal or extended sentence. It appeared that the cases were dealt with subjectively; whereby individuals circumstances were taken into account before delivering a suitable sentence. For example, in one case, a young woman pleaded guilty to possession of a Class A drug, which breached her suspended sentence. As she had attended two-hundred and thirteen hours of rehabilitation (out of a possible two-hundred and fifty), had otherwise not breached her sentence and her cravings had significantly reduced over the eighteen months of her sentence, the Magistrates decided to remove her suspended sentence and offered her a six-month conditional discharge instead. In light of the theories of punishment, particularly the Self-Regulatory Penalty, I did not see how giving the defendant a conditional discharge was deemed to be a punishment. According to Braithwaite (1989), this is referred to as denunciation; whereby an otherwise upright citizen who has breached their contract with the local community is seen to be enough to shame and reintegrate them with that community. (Worrall and Hoy, 2005: 5). However, this was the defendants second offence and the self-regulatory penalty theory fails to explain why some individuals offend. On the contrary, the breach was for a drug abuse problem which, understandably, is difficult to control and therefore can be said to justify her actions. Additionally, the defendant showed signs of remorse and disappointment as her charges were read out. Her solicitor explained, in the facts of the case, that she had earnestly handed over the drugs to the police when asked to do so. Magistrates have reported that generally female defendants areà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦widely perceived to be less threatening in their behaviour and appearance, and so more deserving of compassion. (Evans and Jamieson, 2008; 119) But is this softening towards female convicts a cause for concern? In a study conducted, three Magistrates disagreed, arguing that for a woman to be brought to court was in itself a n indication of the seriousness of her conduct. (Evans and Jamieson, 2008; 119) Alternatively, the number of financial penalties given to the defendants compared with the number of community sentences given was almost equivalent. By simply imposing a fine, it hits them where it hurts-in the pocket, but is not always seen as holding the offender sufficiently accountable for their breach of contract with the community. (Young, 1989 quoted in Worrall and Hoy, 2005: 5) The paying of a fine does not constitute the same emotions of guilt or infliction of pain that would result from a punishment. In order to determine whether these sanctions are working effectively, the government and probation services need to monitor the rate of re-convictions. Studies have shown that the rate of males and females re-offending has decreased from 43.7 to 39.0 from the years 2002-2006  [1]. This reflects that the use of community penalties is having a positive effect on offenders behaviour. However, the rates of reconvictions are not reliable as they do not include offences that have not resulted in a conviction and only cover the post-two year period from the individuals previous conviction. (Davies, Croall and Tyrer: 2010; 845) Further data has shown that the likelihood of convicts reoffending is greater if the individual already has a history of previous convictions. The trends in the data show that it is often very difficult to control the behaviour or alter the attitudes of particular individuals who live the so-called life of crime. In addition to this, the chances of an individual re-offending are often influenced and affected by extraneous factors such as; age, sex, previous history of offending, types of offence, as well as the sen tence imposed. (Davies, Croall and Tyrer, 2010; 486) Thirteen of the twenty cases I witnessed were offences made by working class males between the ages of 21 and 50, with the other offences made by working class females between the ages of 32 and 45. The majority of the cases involved criminal acts of theft, violence, drug abuse and breaches of previous sentences. Having predicted that the majority of offences would be made by young males, I noted that whilst it was young men that were more frequently convicted than women, for first-time offences, the majority of them re-offended. According to Worrall and Hoy (2005; 110) Predisposing hazards, based on research, suggest that re-offending is more likely to occur in young men whose first conviction was at an early age or who have a large number of previous convictions with no recent break in the pattern. Contrastingly, the least likely to reoffend are older women with late first convictions or few previous convictions with a long gap since the last conviction. It also appears that the se riousness of the present offence holds no weight on the likelihood of reoffending. This leads me on to discuss the theory of individual deterrence. This form of punishment stems from the branch of justification known as Reductivism (Walker, 1972). This form of justification serves punishment as a preventative measure for future criminal intent thereby helping to reduce crime. However studies have indicated that quite contrary to what the theory of individual deterrence suggests- that offenders who suffer more severe or punitive penalties (including penalties specifically aimed at deterrence) are more (not less) likely to reoffend.'(West, 1982: 109; Brody, 1976: 14-16; Lipsey, 1995: 74 quoted in Cavadino and Dignan 2007: 37) Therefore, if punishment, in general, is not having the desired effect on offenders, the justice system needs to consider the personal factors and elements, relevant, which may be influencing the behaviour of offenders. Conclusion As a prospective lawyer and current law student, this experience has enhanced my understanding and awareness of current issues within the criminal justice system. Theoretically the methods of punishment in place, so far, appear to be working but in practice, are not working effectively enough. The number of individuals re-offending may have reduced but the number of people committing first-time offences has increased. Probation services need to find alternative methods of eradicating criminal behaviour, attitude and intent in order to prevent reoffending.

Essay --

On Friday November 15, 2013, I attended a concert that I found very interesting. It took place at 7:30 pm at the First Presbyterian Church of the Covenant. The group performing was the Erie Chamber Orchestra but as a special the Slippery Rock University Concert Choir was also there. During the performance I attended, two pieces were performed. The first was a Mozart piece by the name of Symphony No. 41 or Jupiter. The second and final was the Lord Nelson Mass composed by Joseph Haydn. In this concert, the two performances differed greatly unlike the last performance that I went to. The previous one that I attended had music that all sounded very similar to me. That could just be my lack of experience with American music, especially music that was composed hundreds of years ago. This time, there was vocal accompaniment with the second piece which clearly made it much different than the other works that I listened to. The Lord Nelson Mass was one that I enjoyed more and I feel that is because of the choir that performed. Although it is not the type of music that I usually listen to, it is still has some more similarities than the symphony by Mozart. The Lord Nelson Mass composed by Haydn was my favorite performance of the evening. The choir immediately captured my attention and seemed to do the same for everyone else in the audience. I was very impressed by the fact that the choir was made up entirely of college students. It was also stated that some of them sing in the choir just for fun as they are not music majors. There seemed to be an appeal in the fact that the singers were mostly very young. The piece as a whole was also very enjoyable. There was a lot of contrast which I really enjoyed. The music would be very loud and then... ...orgettable. Overall, I was very impressed by the concert and I feel that the rest of the audience was also. The expectations for the members of the Chamber Orchestra are high and those were met but I feel that the expectations for the choral group were not as high. My expectations for the choir were not very high and they were immensely exceeded. The level of talent in that group was something that I was really not expecting at all. Emotionally, I was brought in by The Lord Nelson Mass and it was an interesting experience. Technically, I feel that everyone was flawless though I do not have a lot of experience in music. The type of music performed will never be my favorite; however, it is something that I can really appreciate. The concert that I attended last Friday was an interesting one where I got to have some new experiences and learn about classical music. â€Æ'

Judge and Court

COURT VISIT (REACTION PAPER) CRIMINAL CASE I. Court Setting I choose to enter the Regional/ Municipal Trial Court, 7th Judicial Region, Branch 9 at the Municipality of Cebu City. The Branch 9 trial court is air conditioned and inside the court has 6 accused people sitting at the right corner from the judge place. Witnesses who expresses there are sitting at the judge left side. Facing the judge are the families, friends and relatives of the accused and victims and also the lawyers of both side. There are 2 Policemen and 1 armed S. W. A. T. an and some students that were acquired to observe the court hearing. II. Court Producing The case that we attended was criminal cases. It was about killing the friend of the witness somewhere in V Rama. Bimbo was the name of the accused and he was shackled together with the 5 accused men. The witness was there but he didn’t saw Bimbo killing the victim but his brother saw what happened and was not able to be there and be the witness because he can’t talk for that time. Bimbo’s lawyer was not that good at presenting and it was so obvious that Bimbo is really guilty.III. Observation We arrive there at around 12 pm and there were no court hearings at that time cause its lunch time and the regular time of court hearing is 2 pm. As we stroll around the Capitol we saw many court rooms and some are not air- conditioned, some are also non- trial court. There are different cases in every court; some are drug, criminal cases and many more. As I observed, everyone inside the court are required to turn off their phones and stay quite while the hearing is going on. The judge is in charge of the courtroom.It is the judge's job to listen to everything that everyone says in court. When in court, people call the judge â€Å"Your Honor† when they talk to him. Another part of the judge's job is to know the law and to decide if there is enough evidence to prove the law was broken. As the hearing started it was first led by a prayer. The case that we attended was about Criminal Cases. Bimbo which is the accused was said to break the law of killing. I can see the guilt of Bimbo’s face there and I think his conscience killed him for that moment.I don’t know his intentions in doing such crime but I can say that his sorry for what he did. If Bimbo doesn’t want to be in jail, then he could have chosen a professional lawyer for him to be proven not guilty. But obviously he was guilty and the evidences presented of the victim’s witness and lawyer was really convincing. IV. Suggestion There were some mistakes that the translator did, to have a clear understanding between the witnessed and the lawyer, she must have slowly but surely translated what both sides says for everyone to know and understand what really happened.For me, the 2 policemen and the S. W. A. T man should be sitting near the accused people because everyone inside the court doesn’t really know what thei r capable off. What if, one of the accused can’t control his temper and got really angry at that time? Anyone could have got hurt if that happen. To avoid such incident they should be notified of some bases of unnecessary doings. Sarah May N. Valiente BFA- AA 2 (MWF 7:30- 8:30 am)

Richard Nixon s War On Drugs Essay - 1888 Words

Richard Nixon has declared war on drugs in 1971. He announced to the Americans that America’s public enemy number one is drug abuse. Drug users are everywhere from their own homes, schools, communities, courts, jails, hospitals and prisons. Those who use drugs have nothing to good gain, it only causes problems. Children are neglected or abused, innocent civilians are robbed or even killed for money to buy and obtain drugs. Most eventually end up imprisoned for few years to live. The only ones benefiting from the drug wars are the drug dealers, drug cartels, and organized crime syndicates. The government, on the other hand, has spent billions of dollars to counter attack and end the drug sales and distribution of drugs according to Arthur J. Lurigio â€Å"During the first half of 2006 alone, the war on drugs cost the federal and state governments more than $30 billion†. As law enforcement arrest those involved in the drug war they will most likely cause certain races in this drug arrest and are then showed in the media to push the racism and stereotype, making law enforcement and the people of the community to fear and target theses people because of their association with the drug. The very first drug to appear to the US was during 1800. Law enforcement agencies have been punishing minorities that are stereotyped to the specific drug. The first drug to appear in the United States is opium. What opium is a very highly addictive drug that comes from poppy seed pods. The poppy seedShow MoreRelatedPresident Richard Nixon s The War On Drugs1335 Words   |  6 PagesStarting in 1971, President Richard Nixon declared the War on Drugs. He stated, â€Å"America’s public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. 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