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5-1 Discussion: Sentencing and "Reasonableness" 

 

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After reading about the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 and the subsequent adjustments ordered by the Supreme Court, consider how these changes impact an individual judge's view of a "reasonable sentence." Then, in a post to the discussion board, answer these questions:
Describe how you would tell a "reasonable" sentence from an unreasonable one—what are the hallmarks of a reasonable sentence?
How does a forensic psychologist's sentencing evaluation affect what would be considered a "reasonable sentence"?
After reading about the changes to the Sentencing Reform Act, do you agree with the Supreme Court decisions to grant more discretion to federal judges? Why or why not?

Answer 1

1)The sentence reform act, 1984 discusses the various factors which decide the intensity and extent of the criminal behavior in the court. It depends upon the available quality and quantity of evidence and proof, the witness present in the court, the behavior and the age of the criminal person committing the crime, the version of the criminal for committing the crime, the basis and the reason for committing the crime and the situation encountered by the person for engaging in a crminal situation. These factors determine whether the sentence is reasonable or unreasonable.

Full term date- It includes the total years of the hearing sentence of the person for which the criminal will be kept in the judicial custody with security.

Statutory good time--It includes the length of time where the intensity and duration of the imprisonment is decreased depending upon the behavior of the criminal in jail. They are also provided various small job opportunities of manufacturing various items and products. The good time duration given every year includes 54 days where the behavior and the communication of the prisoner is examined by the security officers. Various programmes and workshops are organized by a psychologist, doctor and security officers for intercating with the prisoners and the examination and assessment of the mental state of the prisoners.

3)environment facility privided by the federal security agency--In case of serious scenarios the criminals are provided rehabilitation in the environment in rooms which has various recreational facilities and is close to their home native ground in a particular area of USA. Depending upon the intensity and the type of the involvement of the criminal in the crime they are shifted to other confinement prisons in solitude and without any type of communication and interaction.It includes the entire case history of the criminal in the presentence report and the complete background of the prisoner.

2)Forensic psychologist will collect the samples of the criminals in the prison and conduct experiments like DNA fingerprinting, restriction fragment length polymorphism . The results will be compared with the normal blood, semen samples of a person to confirm that a particular criminal has committed the crime or not. The fingerprints scan, retinal scan and the scanning images of the face and body shoule be compared with the scans of the fingerprints at the scene of the crime.

3) Yes, i agree with the sentence reform act as it is totally upon the visionary discretion of the judge to sentence the duration of the crime depending upon the available evidence present and the time of duration required for the sentence to be given to be given to the prisoner. The judges should be given the freedom to interrogate the criminal on the basis of the available evidence and reports of the witness present at the scene of crime and the evidence or instrument left behind by the criminal at the scene of crime.