Sentencing Effectiveness

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Evaluate the effectiveness of sentencing and punishment as a means of achieving justice. Sentencing and punishment are effective in the Criminal Justice System (CJS) because victim, offender and society all achieve justice by the sentence that is handed down. There are many factors taken into consideration that affect the sentencing decision, such as the age of the person, whether it was because they were forced or possibly because of a mental illness. There are also numerous methods of alternate methods of sentencing, that include circle sentencing, this means that adult Aboriginals will be in trial and sentenced by their Aboriginal elders. There is also Forum Sentencing, this is a meeting between a victim, offender and victims support people,…show more content…
Forum sentencing is where the victim, offender, police and victims support people and others affected by the crime gather to discuss what happened, how people were affected by the crime and also prepare an ‘intervention plan’ for the offender. The offender must complete the intervention plan as part of their sentence. A very clear example for this is the article “Forum sentence chance for taxi driver bashers” (8/12/11) which states “Three men who have raised the ire in Newcastle taxi drivers by assaulting two drivers in a drunken incident near the King Street Hotel in August are being assessed for their suitability for Forum Sentencing.” The effectiveness for Forum Sentencing includes the fact that it reduces the rates of Recidivism, the intervention plan attempts to stop the offender from committing another crime and the offender/s must plead guilty in order to achieve Forum Sentencing. Although these are the effectiveness’ of Forum Sentencing, there are also some ineffectiveness’. These include that it’s not available in all areas, not available to serious offence, such as rape and murder and it’s also not available to previous custodial sentences servers. Whilst Forum Sentencing is available for European Australians, Circle Sentencing is set up for Indigenous Australians. Circle Sentencing is very similar to Forum Sentencing, except it is for Adult Aboriginal offenders are sentenced by their community. Circle sentencing is also based on Aboriginal Customary Law and more traditional indigenous forms of dispute resolution, it also has the full sentencing powers that a court does. A clear example for Circle Sentencing is shown in the article “Sentencing innovation breaking vicious circle of jail terms” (SMH 15/5/03) where it states “it has been so successful that the NSW Attorney-General, Bob Debus, has said circle sentencing will start in Dubbo next month. Walgett, Brewarrina and as many centres

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