Exam 9: Punishment and Sentencing

Any circumstance accompanying the commission of a crime that may justify a lighter sentence is known as a(n) ____.

Case 9-2 Ted was arrested and charged with the first degree murder of Susan. Ted and Susan were coworkers at a local bar where Ted was the busboy and Susan was a waitress. The prosecutors believed there was convincing evidence that Ted was obsessed with Susan and when she rejected him, he raped and then strangled her. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. -The Supreme Court now requires that all death penalty cases follow certain procedures. One of these requirements is that there is a guilt phase and a sentencing phase of a death penalty trial. This is known as:

Sentence-reduction programs are regularly abused as a "get free out of jail card."

Explain some of the reasons why sentencing reform has occurred.

_________________ rests on the assumption that a judge should be given ample leeway in determining punishments that fit both the crime and the criminal.

In the case of_______ , the Supreme Court made it very difficult to prove discriminatory intent in capital punishment based on statistics alone.

Statutes that require lengthy prison sentences for those who have been convicted of multiple felonies are _____________________.

Mitigating circumstances may include:

The strategy of preventing crime through the threat of punishment is called:

In federal court, capital punishment can be an option for those who traffic large amounts of illegal drugs.

A stipulation in many federal and state sentencing guidelines that allows a judge to adjust his or her sentencing decision based on the special circumstances of a particular case is called a(n)______.

An approach to punishment that is designed to repair the harm done to the victim is ________.

"Punishment is society's means of expressing condemnation of illegal acts such as embezzlement." This is the basic principle of which sentencing philosophy?

Describe the main issues of the death penalty debate.

Who prepares the presentence investigation report?

In Weems v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that:

What is the primary factor in a judge's sentencing decision?

African Americans are nearly_____ times more likely to be sentenced to prison than whites for low-level drug crimes.

Women who are convicted of crimes are more likely than their male counterparts to be sentenced to prison.

A situation in which the length of a sentence appears to be influenced by a defendant's race, gender, economic status, or other factor not directly related to the crime he or she committed is: