Blog Post 3

The sentencing process in the U.S. struggles at achieving equity, as those in prison tend to be primarily young men, disproportionately people of color, disproportionately poor, and have low educational attainment. Sentencing structures in the U.S. are impacted by aggravating factors and mitigating circumstances. Front-end-reforms limit judicial discretion and back-end reforms limit the reduction of a sentence once they are placed in prison. Sentencing guidelines associated with drug offenses have contributed to the mass incarceration of people of color. 

Some of the issues with the pre-trial process such as bail and jail is that bail can be expensive. Those who cannot afford bail must stay in jail. This primarily affects impoverished groups such as people of color. Jails are places intended to house those awaiting trial, some problems associated with jail are the high number of individuals with mental illness. The rate of mental illness among those in jail is three times higher than the general population. 

Probation is a period of supervision that occurs in the community ordered by the court. Incarceration is a period of supervision that occurs away from the community in a jail or prison. Certain situations for prison sentences would be rape, murder, and homicide. 

Comments

  1. Dr. B.July 14, 2020 at 10:28 AM

    Great post! A common theme throughout your post is equity. Consider also how mandatory minimums impacted racial disparities. 

    ReplyDelete

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