Follow-up to our discussion on sentencing

Thanks for a very interesting and entertaining discussion last night about sentencing.  As a follow-up to our discussion, the four goals of sentencing are:

• Retribution (punishment for bad acts)
• Rehabilitation (preparation for return to society without reoffending)
• Incapacitation (keeping the offender locked up to protect society) and
• Deterrence (warning the public and the individual offender that actions have consequences)

In addition, a fair system has to have proportionality.  In other words, the time should fit the crime.

We had talked about one of my cases in which a string or armed robberies results in exposure to more than one hundred years of incarceration.  I was very impressed with the arguments on both sides given as to an appropriate sentence.  In particular as budding lawyers, I am always interested in hearing your opinions given with supporting arguments and reasons.

I thought you might be interested in the link to the article below which discusses a similar scenario as it relates to your essay topic.

Looking forward to reading your essays and seeing you next week!

- Tasha

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/03/quartavious-davis-florida-man-injustice-sentence_n_1645120.html