Criminal Justice in America Final Exam

How many states have the death penalty?

31, + military and federal government

How many people have been exonerated from death row?

almost 160

What is the job of a mitigation specialist?

Look into the biological, psychological, social, and cultural history of the defendant; looks for things that will help them not receive the death penalty, such as disabilities and mental health

Wiggins v. Smith

Effective assistance of counsel requires an adequate investigation and presentation of mitigating evidence such as personal and social history of severe physical abuse and sexual assault during at the penalty phase. Investigation is a key component strategic decision regarding what evidence to present during sentencing hearing

False confessions are a contributing factor in what percent of exonerations?

12%

What percent of homicide exonerates falsely confessed?

22%

What percent of DNA exoneration were innocent defendants confessed, pled guilty, or made incriminating statements?

28%

What are the four causes of false confessions?

1) Diminished capacity (juveniles, mentally disabled, intoxicated individuals)

2) Coercion, duress, fear of violence, threats

3) Threat of harsh punishment

4) Belief truth will ultimately set them free

What is the compensation statute in WI for exonerates?

$5,000/year and a cap of $25,000 (lowest in the country)

Sentence

Penalty or sanction imposed on a person by a court upon conviction for a criminal offense

Bifurcated proceedings

Trial stage/guilt stage and sentencing stage

Purposes of punishment

Deterrence (individual and public), incapacitation, rehabilitation, and retribution

Absolute punishment

reactive; purely reacting to the crime and the individual; retribution and incapacitation (keeping an individual locked up)

Relative punishment

preventative; rehabilitation, affirmation of values, deterrence, incarceration/incapacitation (keeping an individual locked up in order to protect society)

What is the most effective response to crime?

rehabilitation

Why was the execution rate at 0 in 1978?

Furman case

According to Furman v. Georgia, what aspect of the death penalty made is unconstitutional?

The act of executing wasn't cruel and unusual (8th amendment), but the methods of how they applied the death penalty. It differed from state to state, district to district, no uniformity.

What were the impacts of the Furman v. Georgia (1972) ruling?

Renewed a lot of public interest in the death penalty. No executions took place until they were able to put procedures in place.

Why did the number of executions begin to rise again?

States finally caught up with death sentence statutes.

What three reasons why death sentences are rarer today?

1) Doubt to the actual validity of people on death row

2) Expense

3) One of the key drugs for lethal injection is in short supply

When were death sentences at an all time high?

1998-1999

What is the average time between sentencing and execution?

15 years

How many cases are understood as a part of the Gregg v. Georgia (1975) ruling?

5

What are the 3 key components established by Gregg v. Georgia?

1) Separate (bifurcated) proceedings: guilt and sentencing phases

2) Statutes must require jurors to weigh statutory (written down)/aggravating circumstances (things that would push you to support death penalty, such as premeditated or failure to show remorse) and non-statutory/mitigating circumstances (things that would be in favor of the defendant, such as mental health, first offense, juvenile, and severity of crime; judgements you make about the defendant)

3) Right to mandatory appeals

What is the larger impact of Gregg v. Georgia with respect to clemency?

Clemency (some one from an executive branch stepping in and reducing people's sentencing, like a presidential pardon for example) declined

What is the larger impact of Gregg v. Georgia with respect to the abolitionist movement?

Formation of the abolitionist movement, whose goal is to abolish the death penalty.

What is the larger impact of Gregg v. Georgia with respect to legal procedure?

Trials became really long, complicated, and expensive.

Ford v. Wainwright (1986)

Ban of execution of persons who HAVE BECOME insane between the line of sentencing and execution

Can the prison treat a person who has become insane to make the person sane enough for execution?

Yes

How many juvenile offenders were executed between 1976 and 2205?

22

Roper v. Simmons

Supreme court banned the execution of individuals under the age of 18 (at the time they committed the crime) in 2005

Atkins v. Virginia (2002)

Executing the mentally retarded in unconstitutional

Whitherspoon v. Illinois (1968)

U.S. Supreme Court case where the court ruled that a state statute providing the state unlimited challenge for cause of jurors who might have any objection to the death penalty gave too much bias in favor of the prosecution.

Should people who are opposed to death penalty be excluded form juries in capital cases?

No because you want equal representation, but they can be selected out (to an extent)

What is the cost of death penalty compared to life in prison without parole?

Death penalty: $2.5 million - $5 million per case

Life in prison without parole: less than $1 million

What are two criticisms of the death penalty?

Wrongful conviction and racial discrimination

McClesky v. Kemp

Court said the "racially disproportionate impact" in the Georgia death penalty indicated by a comprehensive scientific study was not enough to overturn the guilty verdict without showing a "racially discriminatory purpose." Statistics are irrelevant unless intent can be proven.

How much more likely is a defendant to receive a death sentence if the victim is white?

3.5

What is the murder rate in the US compared to most Western (European) countries?

higher, 4x higher than Canada, 9x higher than Germany/France, and 13x higher than UK

Total institution

"A place of residence and work where a large number of like-situated individuals, cut off from the wider society for an appreciable period of time together, lead an enclosed, formally administered round of life." -Erving Goffman 1961

Examples of total institutions

military, jails, mental hospitals, ships, and prisons

How many people are incarcerated in the US?

2.5 million

What is the percentage of prisoners in the US compared to the world population?

The US contain 5% of the world's population, but 25% of the world's prisoners

1 in how many people are behind bars?

100

1 in how many people are on probation, parole, or in prison?

32

What was the imprisonment rate before and after 1970?

Before 1970: about 100 inmates per 100,000 citizens

After 1970: increased to about 743

Average increase 5.7%

What are the 5 pains of imprisonment?

loss of liberty, loss of autonomy, loss of security, loss of voting rights, stigmatization

5-year recidivism rate

State prisons: 76%

Federal prisoners: 44%

Average: About 66% or 2/3

Sanctions

variety of sentencing forms

Community corrections

probation and parole

What are the 4 common characteristics to alternatives to incarcerations?

residential stability, professional services, accountability, economic efficiency

residential stability

place offender is placed is supposed to look like a home in order to assist in re-integration

professional services

voluntary and sometimes mandatory professional services or medical or mental nature

accountability

plan put in place so the offender can monitor progress, as well as officer who reports on progress

economic efficiency

offenders are expected to find a job, pursue an education

Difference between parole and probation

Probation is part and parcel of the offender's initial sentence, whereas parole comes much later, allowing the offender early release from a prison sentence

Probation

conditional release into community under supervision of correctional officers

United States v. Knights (2001)

Warrantless searches of probationers are constitutional, and police searches of probationers are valid without warrant or probable cause (but reasonable suspicion) even without probationary purpose

What percentage of people on probation have it revoked due to technical violations?

54%

What percentage of people on probation have it revoked due to an arrest for a new crime?

23%

What are 2 advantages to probation?

low cost and lower recidivism rate

Intermediate sentences

"the vacuum of punishment"

fines, restitution, forfeiture

Fines

paying the state (must be adjusted to someone's needs)

Restitution

paying back the damages

Forfeiture

seizure of private property by government if it is a means to or a result of criminal activity

Day fines

Defendant has to pay their monthly salary divided by the amount of days they are supposed to spend in prison

(For example: person makes $6000 a month and is supposed to spend 20 days in prison.

$6000/30 days in a month = $200 per day

$200 x 20 days in prison = $4,000)

In addition to fines, what are 5 other kinds of intermediate sentences?

work release, house arrest, electric monitoring, halfway houses, and day reporting centers

Determinate sentence

fixed sentence

mandatory sentence

created by state statute and represents the rendering of a punishment for which a judge has/had no room for discretion. Generally it means that the sentence may not be suspended and that no probation may be imposed, leaving the judge with no alternative but the "mandated" sentence.

Intermediate sanctions

a form of punishment used in the criminal justice system. These criminal sentences fall between probation and incarceration.

Shock incarceration

boot camp

Theory of boot camp

shorter, but more intense incarceration

Selection for boot camp

excluded if offender was previously convicted of violent crime

Structure of boot camp

through discipline, they are able to achieve some form of adjustability

Triggers of problem-solving courts

revolving door phenomenon and complexity of problem at the individual level not taken care of

How many problem solving courts are there?

3204

How many drug courts are there?

2147

Besides drug courts, what other kind of problem solving courts are there?

mental health, truancy courts, community courts, juvenile drug courts

What is the difference between traditional courts and problem solving courts?

Traditional courts: ADVERSARIAL process to come to a LEGAL resolution in CASES. Judge is the ARBITER in the application of LAW AND PRECEDENT.

Problem solving courts: COLLECTIVE process to come to a THERAPUTIC outcome for PEOPLE. Judge is the COACH in the application of SOCIAL SCIENCE PRINCIPLES THROUGH PLANNING.

Drug court process

admission, treatment, monitoring, discharge

Criticisms of drug courts

coercion, advocacy, structure, impartiality, paternalism, separation of power

What are 7 collateral consequences offenders face after being released from prison?

1) Education, housing, public benefits, and property rights

2) Ineligility for government contracts/debarment from program participation

3) Exclusion from management and operated of regulated businesses

4) Restrictions on fam relationships and living arrangements, like child custody, fostering, and adoption

5) Registration, lifetime supervision and residency requirements

6) Publication of an individuals crime record or mandated notification to general public or to particular private individuals

7) Collateral consequences arising from juvenile adjudications

Parole

Conditional release of an inmate from incarceration, under supervision after part of the prison sentence has been served

Parole is a privilege and intersects with what 3 concepts

grace, contract, and custody

About what percent of inmates will be released from prison at some point?

93%

What percentages of all inmates have the possibility of parole?

77%

Where and when was the first juvenile court?

Cook County, Illinois 1899

What percent of delinquents commit what percent of crimes?

3-5% of all (male) juvenile delinquents commit 30-60% of all crimes

.Diversion

an intervention strategy that redirects youths away from formal processing in the juvenile justice system, while still holding them accountable for their actions.

What is the consequence of intervening with juvenile delinquents?

They'll stay in the system because they're labeled. Most juveniles mature out of the deviance.

Parens Patriae

State as a parent, guardian, and protector of all citizens (like juveniles) who cannot protect themselves

What does the juvenile justice system address

criminal and problem behavior among children between the ages of 10 and 18

status offenses

only juveniles can commit (underage drinking)

Juvenile proceeding are _______ in nature.

civil

delinquent

child who has committed an act that if committed by an adult would be a criminal act

dependency

child who has no parent or guardian or whose parents cannot give proper care (parents want but can't due to physical or mental illness, substance abuse, developmental disability, arrest, or natural disaster)

neglect

child received inadequate care because of an action or inaction of parents (parents can but don't want; injurious environment, abandonment, failing to provide proper care, supervision, or discipline)

age of criminal responsibility

varies by state

how many states have set minimum ages for criminal responsibility?

15 (range from 6 [NC] to 12)

What about states without minimum ages for criminal responsibility?

common law, which means 7 years