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Sentencing Reform: Indeterminate Sentencing Analysis

Calls for a more rigorous approach to sentencing policies, particularly for offenders convicted of armed robbery, while popular among many groups within society, may be best considered in light of a different approach. In recent decades, and in response to the concerns of citizens and policymakers alike regarding the problem of criminal recidivism, a move toward determinate sentencing with the abolition of parole has emerged as one of the most significant sentencing trends.

According to Marvell and Moody (1996), this trend emerged in response to the sense that imprisonment does not effectively rehabilitate inmates and that parole decisions are often arbitrary and not based on the supposed rehabilitation of the individual prisoner. Supporters of determinate sentencing argue that imprisonment serves multiple goals, among which deterrence, incapacitation, and retributive justice are prominent (Marvell & Moody, 1996). However, there are concerns that determinate sentencing and the abolition of parole (or at least a significant reduction in its availability) are inherently unjust, unequal, and discriminatory, as well as a major contribution to so-called "prison gridlock" and overcrowding (Stansky, 1996). Additionally, longer (i.e. doubled maximum) sentences would have the effect of expanding the prison population and dramatically increasing the cost of incarceration.

One must understand the context in which such sentencing policies are positioned. There are two general and fairly broad theories of corrections that have operated in the United States over time. One theory focuses on retributive justice, calling for punishment for criminal behavior to "fit the crime" and to de sufficiently rigorous as to convince criminal offenders that re-offending is undesirable and likely to lead to further, potentially more stringent, punishment (Bain, 2007). This theory prevailed throughout the 19th century and into the 20th century, at...

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Sentencing Reform: Indeterminate Sentencing Analysis. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 18:59, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/2001071.html