Instructions: You must return your final responses to2 out of threequestions by December 9, 2022 at 22:00PM. You may consult your book, notes, class lectures and the Internet for other research cites. You must give credit by Citations to all your sources. Your response must contain your name and class on each page and the number of pages you are submitting. Absolutely no late submissions will be accepted. Spelling and grammar are important.
Question 1-
The three arms of the US government are the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary. The executive implements the laws as created by the legislature while the legislature makes the legislations to govern the country (Dahl, 2003). The judiciary, on the other hand, interprets the laws or the constitution of the USA. The three branches enjoy separation of powers in that each of the branches is independent and hence does not get directions from the other. Separation of authority also implies that each branch of the government is separate from the other. Therefore, each arm of the government is independent or autonomous in all aspects. An example for the appellate judges is that they are selected through a merit selection and retention process commonly referred toas the ‘Missouri Plan.’ It entails screening of potential candidates by the judicial nominating commission to obtain 3-6 nominees who are presented to the governor who then appoints a judge from the list of candidates (Band, 2014). The governor in most states may be elected but still is affiliated with a political party.
Essay Question 1: Explain your position on the significance of an independent judiciary. Since many judges are actually appointed to the Bench and endorsed by a political agenda, can the judiciary really make independent and objective decisions?
Question 2-
People are arrested every day in the United States. They are put on probation or sent to jail, and sometimes they are let out on parole; there are millions of people affected. In 1995 alone there were over five million people under some form of correctional supervision, and the number is steadily increasing. The incarceration rate is skyrocketing: the number of prison inmates per 100,000 people has risen from 139 in 1980 to 411 in 1995. This is an immense financial burden on the country. Federal expenditure for correctional institutions alone increased 248% from 1982 to 1992. Obviously, something has to be changed in the justice system. If the crime rate is rising this much, the correctional justice system is not functioning properly, and needs to be reformed. Many people have offered theories as to what should be done with the prison system, the extremes being retributivism and the therapeutic model, but what they all seem to have overlooked is that there is no single system that works for everyone. Blanket generalizations as to the nature of the criminal mind cannot be made. Every criminal is different, with different motivations and different psychological characteristics so that different things are required to make them repent or deter them from further criminal activity, and the solutions offered are not enough to lower the crime rate and prison population. Something needs to be done on a more fundamental level so that fewer people turn to crime in the first place, thereby providing the prison system with the freedom to improve the attention it gives to the people that do become criminals; my solution is a combination of economic reform and educational opportunity that would give people less reason to commit crimes.
Essay Question 2: Many jurisdictions are now embracing less restrictive bail requirements even for felonies. Explain and comment on the affect this may have on recidivism.
Question 3-
Sentencing can be treated as a set of rules, according to which the offender is punished. Punishment, in its case, tends to connect conducted crimes and sanctions that are used in the court. The first thing this system should address deals with the type of sanction selected and aspects that made that relate to the crime. Punishment, in its way, focuses on the justification of crimes according to the law. In this way, punishment and sentencing are connected with each other.
Taking everything mentioned into consideration, it can be claimed that punishment and sentencing are connected to each other. When being in the court, the judge and the jury discuss some case and develop a sentence; they state how much time an offender should spend maintaining one’s punishment. Even though one is not willing to do so, the criminal has no other opportunity but to obey, as it was required because of the law violation and issues with the probation. Still, there is a possibility that judge will give a sentence, having no relevant punishment. For example, if it is proved that the person did nothing wrong, one may be free to return home. Still, some individuals are found guilty; the punishment will also be declared. Sentencing is tightly connected to the punishment, as it identifies the way the punishment will look like in a particular case. It can be treated as a declaration of how the representatives of the general public react to crimes and those who committed them (Findlay, Odgers, & Yeo, 2005). A person is sentenced for almost the same purposes one receives punishment. The court is to make sure that one will receive appropriate punishment for indecent actions, other crimes can be prevented and the community protected (Bottoms & Robinson, 2004).
Except for that, an individual receives a chance to rehabilitate. A person can be sentenced when one admits his/her guilt, or it is proved by the court (the trial by the judge alone or the hearing with the jury). Local, District, and Supreme Courts can be approached. The hearing that deals with sentencing is held apart from the one that was focused on the punishment. In the framework of one and the same case, the offender may face different sentences because they are not universal or divided according to strict rules. In fact, there is no correct outcome that can be reached in the court. Sentencing has several functions.
Essay Question 3:
Explain how each of the following affects punishment: deterrence, retribution, rehabilitation, incapacitation. Which of these purposes is best suited to protect the State and the perpetrator in Court?