Exam 12: Punishment and Sentencing

Give two examples of how budget cutbacks influence the use of mandatory sentencing and of good time.

The pursuit of justice through punishment imposed on a person as "payback" for harming society by violating criminal laws is called

Misdemeanor courts usually can only impose sentences of 1 year or less in jail.

Small counties frequently cannot afford to seek the death penalty as punishment due to the expenses involved in trials.

A(n)_____ fixes the term of imprisonment at a specific period of time.

Over half of the adults under correctional supervision are on

Legislatures construct sentencing guidelines according to two dimensions. These dimensions are

The goal of restoring a convicted offender to society through educational training is called ______.

Punishments rarely reflect the dominant values of a particular timeframe in history.

The U.S. Supreme Court found that the death penalty was unconstitutional in _____.

Which demographic group are you most likely to find overrepresented in the prison population of most states?

The goal of deterrence assumes that criminals are rational beings.

Alex was recently found guilty of first-degree murder.  Based upon state law, the judge was forced to use a system/guideline to determine the sentence that he was to receive.  Alex was sentenced to 25 years in prison.  He will spend his time in a prison approximately 25 miles from his home.  Alex was thankful for this sentence because it was a death penalty case otherwise. Alex will be under lock and key for the next 25 years.  He will not be able to harm anyone in the general public, which is a form of 

Since the 1980s, sentencing guidelines have been established in the federal courts and in nearly two dozen state court systems.

Some countries use corporal punishment as a sanction in criminal cases. Do you think the United States should use a system of corporal punishment to control crime? What results might we see in such a system?

Most states use lethal injection as the preferred method of execution.

A presentence report is prepared by

The U.S. Supreme Court declared that the death penalty was not implemented in a racially discriminatory manner in the case of ______.

When the goal of punishment is to restore a convicted offender to society through therapy, this is called

The U.S. Supreme Court decided in the case of _____ that the death penalty is unconstitutional for offenders under the age of 18.