Sentencing Guidelines Reform Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Sentencing Guidelines ameliorate - Research Paper ExampleLikewise alternatives have been looked at for offenders of non-violent crime, such as community service. The expect for Sentencing Reforms The prison population has been rapidly growing for some(prenominal) years, with an increase of 7% in the period from 2000 to 2005 (King, 2007). The constitute per day per prisoner of keeping criminals incarcerated is significant making the increases in prison population detrimental to the budgets of many states. In addition, there atomic number 18 costs associated with building new prisons if the population increases to that extend, and the associated space and land use. This places arduous demand on policy makers to try and determine sentencing laws and reforms that will limit the prison population. Punishments for crime are developed for multiple primers including political, such as trying to win votes in an election, however one of the preponderating drivers is decreasing the tak e aim of crime. The potential outcomes for committing a crime play a large role when individuals solve whether to follow through with a crime. For example, crime and punishment can be viewed as part of an scotch model, where those who consider crimes weigh up the benefits of the crime versus all the potential costs. If the punishment for crime is high compared to the reward, then(prenominal) they are more likely to reconsider, this is especially true if the likelihood of prosecution and punishment is high (Reynolds, 1990). For this reason diversifys in sentencing must look at a balance between keeping the number of prisoners low, that still providing effective punishment and deterrent for crimes. In addition, punishment for crime can act to change behavior in criminals. For example, do drugs offenders are often driven largely by a fill which comes from their addiction, and thieves may be responding to greed. Prison life may change this desire in a heap of those who are incarc erated, giving them time to think about who they are and what they are doing. Programs within prison and removed of it that focus on breaking addictive behaviors, such as treatment options for drug offenders can in like manner be very(prenominal) productive methods of reducing crime rate. This is because without the addiction driving them, many criminals that committed drug offenses will no longer have the same strong need or desire to. Finally, immurement is not an effective solution in all cases. When a crime is committed out of a perceived need, particularly in the case of drug addiction, incarceration acts as a punishment, but does nought to reduce the likelihood of re-offense. When the criminal is released, the drivers that caused him to offend in the first case are still present, and re-offense is very likely. Drug Based Sentencing Reforms Sentencing reform legislation has focused on criminals who have committed low level offenses. This section will examine some of the ty pes of legislation in more detail. Thirteen states passed legislation that looked at increasing the available options for drug treatment for the large number of non-violent drug-based crimes. Of these states, nine passed laws that created or extended sentencing parenthesis for drug offenders. Sentencing diversion involves sentencing sending the criminal to a facility or a program that worked with them in treating their drug problem. This was already present in a number of states, but sentencing reforms worked to clarify ambiguities within the law, indeed allowing sentencing diversion to be used in an increased number of cases. Louisiana established a different sentencing diversion model for drug crimes than is used in other states. The model in this state allows for the reprove to be diverted and the individual to begin the treatment program without a statement of guilt, or a