Federal & State Punishment: Restitution, Retribution, Incapacitation, Rehabilitation & Deterrence - Essay Sample

Objectives of State and Federal Punishment

The primary goals of federal and state punishments include restitution, retribution, incapacitation, rehabilitation, and deterrence. Society requires the ultimate punishment as the price for people who break the law. Through the punishment, the people affected by the offender get compensated for their pain afflicted on them. Restitution involves the payments made by the offenders for the crimes they committed to the victims of their offense. It is commonly used in the case the victim suffered a financial setback. In this case, the victim is expected to be paid and restores their previous positions before the crime.

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Retribution is justice for the crimes committed by those who deserve the punishment. Retribution relies on both the past and the concept of an eye philosophy. Through retribution, criminals get what they deserve. When an attacker kills someone, death ought to be the penalty and the sentence is in line with the offense. Lawbreakers penalized in America for various crimes create a sense of vengeance to the community. Society is delighted with the prosecution of prisoners by the state or federal government, which increases our confidence in the legal justice system. Retribution avoids potential violence by reducing the victim's incentive to prosecute the defendant.

Rehabilitation changes the actions of the convict to deter a potential crime. Rehabilitation is defined as the recovery after a person returns to a former good behavior via education, counseling, and corrective treatment. The importance of rehabilitation is to eliminate recurrence and safeguards society. Another importance of rehabilitation is promoting change among the inmates by changing their attitudes to minimize their desire to commit crimes in the future so that they can become rule-abiding citizens (Niemann, 2014). Additionally, rehabilitation helps perpetrators to make better decisions to prevent criminal behavior triggered by drugs or alcohol. Rehabilitation enables the addicts to go through therapy and detoxification to eliminate drug substances that provoke criminal activities.

Incapacitation requires home detention, imprisonment, and capital punishment are the state and federal sentencing goals. The legal systems prevent future crimes by separating the perpetrator from the community. When people are incapacitated, they are restricted from the freedoms and liberties they are used to in the society. The main reason for the incapacitation is to reduce the rate of criminal activities while the suspects are imprisoned since most perpetrators are still committing crimes until they are identified.

Deterrence prevents future crimes by the defendant and the public through the use of fright tactics. The public is given the punishments for the crimes, hence putting them on notice on the boundaries they should keep or not cross. It is a means of informing the public that for every crime they commit, there is a consequence. Deterrence is used in the hope of making the public not to commit the same crimes.

How Does Sentencing Affect the State and Federal Corrections Systems Overall?

Mandatory sentencing has helped to reduce the rate of crimes in the society. The mandatory sentencing works in two ways, the first way is removing the opportunity for the criminals to continue with their wickedness by locking them down. Secondly, sentencing deters the offenders through threats of long jail terms and stiff penalties. Over the years, the cost of the state corrections budget has increased (Hofer, 2015). This is due to the increased rates of incarceration over the years. The costs increase ranges from salaries paid to prison employees, prison-education service, capital costs, and hospital care for the inmates. It is costly to provide free food and healthcare to a large population of inmates.

The increased number of people incarcerated in the US has led to overcrowding in prisons. All over the world, it has been found that over 115 countries do have overcrowded prisons (Hofer, 2015). Overcrowding undermines the ability of prisons to gather for the basic needs of the prisoners, such as food, accommodation, and healthcare. It also leads to a lack of privacy in the prisons, which can lead to mental health issues, increase rates of violence in prison, self-harm, and suicide in some cases.

To the families of the incarcerated criminals, the financial crisis does come up to them, starting from the bail bonds collected. The bail bond is always nonrefundable to the defendants. While in prison, the families will be further pushed to more charges by the phone companies who enjoy monopoly by charging a high fee of up to $24.95 for a 15-minute call (Hofer, 2015). While in prison, the commissary vendors sell god to the incarcerated people, the inmates do not have a source of income and depend on the stipend given to them by their family members hence, in return, burdening more the families.

What is Determinate and Indeterminate Sentencing?

Determinant sentencing is not commonly used and it is defined as sentencing an offender for a specific period. While convicting the perpetrator, the judge has no discretion as the law stipulates the exact sentence. For instance, if a person fired shots, killed two people and wounded one person, the jury can conclude the case as a first degree murder of two people and attempted murder of one individual; thereby sentencing the criminal to thirty years imprisonment for murder and additional five years for the attempted murder. The determinate sentencing ensures fair trials to all people in relation to the type of crime. Alongside the determinant sentence, other sentences are involved, such as concurrent, consecutive, deferred, life, mandatory, presumptive, and straight sentences.

However, indeterminate sentences is when the penalty of the convict is defined as a period, not a fixed period. Most states prefer indeterminate sentencing than determinate because they hope that rehabilitation will be offered to the convicted personnel because people react differently to punishments. Indeterminate sentencing aims to parole the individuals who indicate the highest level of behavior improvement. The accused is, in effect, convicted to one to seven years, to say so. Under the indeterminate sentencing, the judge has the discretion to decide on what to impose during the sentencing (Zhang, Zhang, & Vaughn, 2009). If an offender, as stated, is given a period of one to five or seven years, their duration will depend on various variables such as parole. Under the parole board hearing, a panel determines when one can be released after the offender serving the minimum of their sentencing period.

In most cases, the offender must have served at least half of their duration. Indeterminate sentencing is always given in a view that it will motivate the convicted offenders such that if they behave early, their sentences might be reduced. However, a problem arises where critics claim that the indeterminate sentences give the parole board too many powers. It also harms the minorities and other people who might not get well along with the "right people" as they are likely to receive harsh treatment from the parole board. Mostly, offenders who less deserve to have freedom get out earlier, and they are likely to get back into the life of crime.

References

Hofer, P. J. (2015). Impact of the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015 (S. 2123). Federal Sentencing Reporter, 28(2), 116-118. doi: 10.1525/fsr.2015.28.2.116

Niemann, G. (2014). International Criminal Law Sentencing Objectives. Criminal Justice in International Society, 135-150. doi: 10.4324/9780203067222-10

Zhang, Y., Zhang, L., & Vaughn, M. S. (2009). Indeterminate and Determinate Sentencing Models. Crime & Delinquency, 60(5), 693-715. doi: 10.1177/0011128709354047