The American Justice System

Sentencing Options

In the American justice system there are 5 major corrections and each has their own goals. Having these 5 sentencing options provides alternatives when having to sentence an offender. They all have their advantages and disadvantages, and one option may not be the right option for the crime. Here we take a look at those 5 corrections and what works for what reasons.

Retribution was used centuries ago as the main motive for punishment. Now it has been reinvented as the philosophy of "just deserts" (Alder et. al., 1997, p. 242). This means a punishment should be based on the severity of the crime. This is a belief an offender must be punished for their crimes, and is an act of vengeance. Some say retribution is "you get what you deserve" in a sense of your punishment should fit the crime. With retribution it is a determinate sentencing. For example; a charge of murder could get you a life sentence, and there is no chance of getting an early release. The reasoning for this is because of the severity of the crime, as opposed to someone stealing a $20.00 dvd who may only get probation.

There are some good and bad with retribution. Offenders are punished for what they do, and society in a sense seeks justice. Also, retribution works against excessive punitive sanctions, by establishing punishments that are proportionate to the seriousness of the offence. However with this being the go to choice for most prisons, the problem comes with overcrowding. When you have a prison that is overcrowded finances also become an issue. This choice becomes very costly. The type of crime control strategy would be get-tough strategies such as; death penalty, incarceration, and jail confinement.

Deterrence is used to set an example to society to deter crime and protect social order. There are two types of deterrence, special and general. The basic idea behind general deterrence is that punishing one person for his or her criminal acts will discourage others from committing similar acts. The notion of special deterrence holds that an individual offender will decide against repeating an offense after experiencing the painfulness of punishment for that offense ("Understanding the human," 2011).

The advantage of this is you can place fear into society that if you do this crime this will be your punishment. However, for this to work it needs to be visible to others and well known to the community. This isn't always going to happen so the community doesn't have the fear placed within. Also, this type of punishment is usually more effective for the more serious crimes such as drug violations and murder. The less serious crimes would be along the lines of shoplifting, or a speeding ticket.

Deterrence also comes with a determinate sentencing, not allowing the offender out on early release. It is a reactive punishment that uses the protection of society as its crime control strategy. This means the offender would have fines, probation and everything up to death penalty, depending on the crime. A judge isn't going to sentence someone to probation for a murder and let the community know they won't be punished for a serious crime.

Rehabilitation calls for changing the individual lawbreaker through correctional interventions, such as drug-treatment programs. You want to be able to change the offender with rehabilitation. The problem with this punishment is there is no guarantee this will work for an offender.