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| NCJ Number:
|
NCJ 100173
|
| Title:
|
Must the American Criminal Justice System Be Impotent?
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| Author(s):
|
E van denHaag
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| Sale:
|
National Institute of Justice/
NCJRS paper reproduction
Box 6000, Dept F
Rockville, MD 20849
United States
NCJRS Photocopy Services
Box 6000
Rockville, MD 20849-6000
United States |
| Publication Date:
|
1985 |
| Pages:
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17 |
| Type:
|
Issue overviews |
| Origin:
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United States |
| Language:
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English |
| Note:
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This paper was presented on September 19, 1985, as part of the Bicentennial Forum Series on 'Constitutional Values and Contemporary Policy,' sponsored by The Washington Institute. |
| Annotation:
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This essay argues that punitive sentences appropriate to the severity of the crime are more likely than incapacitation and rehabilitation to reduce crime. Increasing the probability of conviction by eliminating unreasonable evidence restrictions is also advocated. |
| Abstract:
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The purposes of punishment are justice, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation. Deterrence is accomplished by making the consequences of crime sufficiently painful to outweigh the benefits of crime. This approach must be accompanied by justice, which aims at punishing the guilty and absolving the innocent while ensuring that the punishment is appropriate to the crime. The incapacitative and rehabilitative functions of sentencing do not significantly reduce crime because they do not dissuade the inexhaustible population of potential offenders from committing crimes. Deterrence not only depends upon appropriate sentencing but also on the certainty of apprehension and conviction. This can be facilitated by eliminating procedures that free the guilty and do little to protect the innocent. Courts should admit all evidence available in a case regardless of how it was obtained. Means other than excluding evidence should be found to discipline officers who have obtained evidence illegally. Further, prosecutors should be required to charge persons with all crimes for which there is believed to be sufficient evidence to convict, and a two-thirds vote of the jury should be sufficient for conviction. Fines can deter crime provided they are related to the offender's income. 7 footnotes. |
| Main Term(s):
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Deterrence |
| Index Term(s):
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Fines ; Rehabilitation ; Determinate sentences ; Convicted offender incapacitation |
| |
To cite this abstract, use the following link:
http://www.ncjrs.gov/App/Publications/abstract.aspx?ID=100173
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