Incarceration

What is the difference between prison and jail?

Jails are usually short-term holding cells operated by cities or counties and administered by local authorities; Prisons hold convicted criminals for long periods of time

What kind of crime is the most common for federal prisons? 

Drug offenders

What are the 4 goals of imprisonment

• Incapacitation

• Deterrence

• Retribution

• Rehabilitation

• Restitution

Name at least three ways life in prison differs from life on the outside. 

• Prisoners are banished from the outside world

• Prisoners have no decision-making power over important aspects of their lives

• The physical environment is stark and oppressive

What is a goal that prison meets and why?

Prisons do a good job at incapacitating criminals— it is hard forprisoners to escape

What is a goal that prison fails to meet and why?

Prisons are bad at rehabilitation- Prisons often fail at rehabilitation because most inmates return to society without gaining the skills or support needed to change, and incarceration can even increase the likelihood of future criminal behavior

What are some alternatives to prison?

Paying restitution through money or labor

Internal LOC

You are responsible for your own fate

External LOC

You tend to view your fate as due to chance factors, luck, or the actions of others

Crimes attributed to (Internal or External) causes may be punished less harshly than those attributed to (Internal or External) causes

External ; Internal

Post-arrest arraignment

Hear charges against you and enter a plea

School to Prison Pipeline

• Teachers monitor Black and Hispanic students more closely and discipline them more harshly for similar infractions

• This leads to involvement in the CJS → School to prison pipeline

Criminogenic effect

Factors, environments, or systems—most notably prisons—that foster, induce, or increase the likelihood of criminal behavior and recidivism.

Capital sentencing

The legal process by which homicide offenders are determined to be deserving of either a sentence of life imprisonment or a sentence of death

Aggravating Factors

Increase a defendant’s culpability and lead to harsher sentences

Mitigating Factors

Decrease culpability or lessen the sentence

Examples of Aggravating factors

Prior criminal history, Use of a weapon, Victim suffered severe injuries

Examples of Mitigating factors

Lack of criminal record, Acceptance of responsibility, Defendant suffers from behavioral health problems

Enmund v. Florida, 1982

Can’t sentence someone to death if they are not directly involved in the commiting of a murder

Ford v. Wainwright, 1986; Panetti v. Quarterman,2007; Madison v. Alabama, 2019

Can’t carry out death penalty on someone who is incompetent to be executed. “Rational understanding” is necessary. Dementia may undermine rational understanding

Atkins v. Virginia, 2002; Hall v. Florida, 2014; Moore v. Texas, 2017 affirmed.

Individuals with intellectual disability are not eligible for death penalty. Doesnt serve deterrence or retribution

Roper v. Simmons, 2005

Juveniles are not eligible for the death penalty

Under what conditions can someone be sentenced to capital punishment?

Aggravated murder (e.g., Murder for hire, murder of more than one person, murder of a police officer, murder of a child, murder during the commission of another felony)

Death Qualification

The process during which jurors answer a series of questions about their willingness to vote for a death sentence if the defendant is found guilty.

What are the characteristics of people most likley to be excluded from death qualified juries?

Female, Black, Liberal

What happens when jurors do not comprehend jury instructions in death penalty cases?

• They may misinterpret the law (e.g., think death is required if any aggravating factor exists)

• They may ignore mitigating evidence

• Their decisions become more influenced by emotion, bias, or prejudice

Ways to improve the comprehension of jury instructions

Simplifying sentence structure, using concrete language, removing double negatives, and using the defendant’s actual name

Does the death penalty deter crime?

No

Why doesn’t the death penalty deter crime?

• States with the death penalty actually have higher murder rates than those without it 

• Most murders are not rational decisions (they are crimes of passion, often involving drugs/alcohol), so fear of execution does not influence behavior