What are some objectives of sentencing?

Question

In the corrections courts

Answer 1

It depends on what state you are in.  California law indicates that the objectives of sentencing are to protect the community, punish the offender and to affect rehabilitation in the offender.

Answer 2

To increase profits in any way possible.  That could be through the added drain on tax revenues or fines and "court costs".

Answer 3

To keep the criminal off the streets for as long as possible.  That is not my view.  But, it is the real reason for the long sentences being adjudicated in the present criminal justice system.  I notice more judges subject to reelection are making sentences consecutive vs. concurrent.  You now have a system in which a theft or drug offense is from a practical point of view a life sentence for a 35 year old.  The downside: it is disproportionate and it makes down the line drug dealers prepared to kill to avoid arrest.  There is another street dealer waiting to take his job.  Maybe, we should consider if drug laws make sense in a society that wants to feel good.  If legalized the drug trade would be removed as major focus of law enforcement and put the dealers out of business by licensing stores to sell drugs.  Happiness is the goal of the average American, as I understand them.  

Answer 4

1) To deter criminals.  By imposing punishments and making them known, intelligent people will avoid crime.  The same reason why a parent might send you to timeout or ground you.

2) In cases where sentencing results in jail time, to keep the public safe.  Fines would not be appropriate for a murderer or rapist that is dangerous to the public.

Answer 5

I will respectfully disagree with the above poster. If revenues were the objective, sentencing would be hefty fines.

Fines and court costs are set to help defray the public cost of the judicial system which is paid by all our taxes. If we didnt have that aspect in place, our taxes would be far higher than they are today.

The objective of sentencing ( in my humble opinion) is to remove more dangerous predators from the public (in more serious cases) and mainly to reinforce the simple fact that we are responsible for our actions.

Think for a moment about sentencing and the court system itself. If every person went into court for criminal actions and the sole punishment was a financial fine, the "smarter" criminals would simply advance in their ways to make sure they made enough "profit" from crime to pay off the court and be right back on the street robbing, raping, killing, etc, etc.

Sentencing drives home the point that if you decide to break the law, you will be punished for it. Hopefully, except in the case of the career criminal or the genetically stupid, this will help them understand that they have to obey the law when they are back on the street again.

I hope this helps and you can find it useful