“Indeterminate sentences are sentences that have a minimum and maximum time to serve; a decision by a release authority determines the actual time served within that range” (Seiter, R. 2011). Indeterminate sentencing structure was used before the 1970’s and was supported by two beliefs. The first belief was environmental explanations could contribute to the offenders upbringing and mental condition. The second belief was the offender suffers from psychological problems that result in criminal behavior. These beliefs became heavily challenged in congress because they made the criminal justice system responsible for turning criminals into law abiding citizens.
Whereas in Muslim countries such as Afghanistan, it is a crime if the citizens aren’t dressed in a Burka, etc. This is a result of Sharia law which is based on the Koran. This essay will assess a range of competing perspectives in which provide explanations and solutions to crime. It will cover factors such as the type of criminality, the delinquents themselves, research evidence, contemporary issues, perspective on Official Crime Statistics and methodology. Symbolic interactionism first emerged in the 1930s and began to grow around the 1960s.
In assessing the question “Are official statistics a reliable source of information about crime in Britain?” several factors will be considered: including how the statistics are collected, the divide between males and females in crime statistics, the over representation of ethnic minorities and any problems in looking at the true extent of crime using statistics as an indicator for this. In the United Kingdom statistics are produced by the Home Office, the first crime statistics were published in 1976, and contained crimes recorded by the police. Today these statistics are published annually. These statistics make up the British Crime Survey, which measures the amount of crime in England and Wales by asking people about crimes they have experienced in the last year. The British Crime Survey also includes crimes which are not reported to the police, therefore is an important alternative to police records and provides criminologists, the police, the courts, the media and anyone else who has an interest with the statistics, two different types of data: Firstly trends on crime over time chartered, Details are compiled from offenders who are eventually found guilty or cautioned; details gathered include sex and the age of the offender.
Crime is ever changing varying culturally, globally and historically. With this arise a number of issues in agreement of what a crime may be adding to its complexity. For example (Muncie et al,2010 p.6) highlights whilst publishing in fifty six countries it was legal to terminate pregnancy but in Nicaragua, Chile and El Salvador woman were banned from having an abortion even the mother’s life was at risk. Muncie also raises other various points. Take murder for example, a crime which under UK jurisdiction would be considered one of the worst and punished more harshly.
It is self-evident that our existing homicide laws are in urgent need of reform when even Ken Macdonald QC, the director of public prosecutions, criticises them and is echoed by several senior judges. In an interview, he proposed that there should be degrees of homicide, not just murder and manslaughter, but three or four degrees. The government has acknowledged this and has asked the law commission to widen its approach from just examining the law on provocation to consideration of the whole law on homicide. The law commission itself commented on the current Homicide law (provocation) and stated that the present law of murder in England and Wales is a mess. The Homicide Act 1957 has been criticised mainly under these following premises.
Eyewitness Testimony Lauren Thomas Student I.D 13089254 Australian Criminal Justice System 4th November 2009 Terry Goldsworth Word Count [pic] Introduction The argument as to whether or not eye-witnesses should impact as much as they do on the criminal justice system has been heavily analysed, criticised and argued over many years and is still in question today. This report is going to discuss the benefits and limitations that eye witnesses have and whether a person’s life should depend on the word of another. The issues raised between sociologists, criminologists and psychologists are very important as they state the problems eye-witnesses bring to cases that may decide between imprisonment or freedom. They argue that someone’s
STRAIN THEORY Crime can be defined as any action that is in violation of the law and for which punishment is imposed, however, literally defining crime is often difficult as the constant changing laws throughout time blur the line in what constitutes a criminal act and an offender. Criminologists through the ages have presented their definitions of crime, providing theories that analyze why crime is committed and, more importantly, how it may be prevented. One of the prominent theories in explaining crime is the strain theory, first developed in 1938 by Robert K. Merton who sought to explain the relationship between social structure and delinquent behavior (Bernard, Snipes & Gerould; 2010). Merton’s work on the strain theory was formulated in response to Emily Durkheim’s conception of “anomie” – that is, a breakdown of social norms or rules that contributes to the social malady of crime (LaCapra; 1972). Durkheim’s work in the 19th century argued about the effects of rapid social change on anomies, an experience he himself witnessed occur during the revolutionary period in France.
Judicial decisions have also effectively created new crime as in Shaw v. DPP (1962) – offence of conspiracy to corrupt public morals, or R v. R (1991) – rape within marriage is a crime. Also, in contract and tort law, nearly all the main rules come from cases decided by judges. Many of them were made in the last century or so but still affect today law e.g. Felthouse v. Bindley (1863) – silence can not be deemed as consent (acceptance of an offer) or the neighbourhood principles produced in Donoughue v. Stevenson (1932). So how can judge create law through the doctrine of precedent?
But should this be the way? In my personal opinion, capital punishment is cruel and unusual, it is legalised murder, which is ethically and morally wrong. Introduction Since the last official execution in Australia in 1967, the issue of capital punishment has been raised in many aspects of our lives, through the media, general discussions, parliament, etc. My argument in this essay, is that Capital Punishment should not be reintroduced into any society, and should be taken out of the one‘s that have decided to keep it. (www.spinneypress.com.au/capital punishment) There will be four main points to my essay argument.
Misty Vernon Unit 9: Analysis and Application: Sentencing “THE IMPOSITION/ CONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE DEATH PENALTY” CJ500 Critical Legal Issues in Criminal Justice Twenty five years ago, in Furman v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court considered whether the death penalty violated the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The Court explained that the lack of uniform standards for the application of the death penalty resulted in arbitrary and discriminatory sentencing, violating the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The death penalty was then found unconstitutional. In response to this decision, states modified their death penalty legislation to accommodate the concerns of the Court. In the 1976 case, Gregg v. Georgia, the Court upheld the constitutionality of the death penalty, as applied under the new statutes.