Learning Goal: I’m working on a law discussion question and need support to help

Learning Goal: I’m working on a law discussion question and need support to help me learn.Answer initial question 250 words and respond to 3 classmates 250 words each.Initial Question: Of the 5 purposes of punishment listed in your readings for this week, which do you believe are the most important to the prevention of crime and promoting a civil society? How does this report impact your thinking on this issue? Classmate 1 Andrew: Punishment has five recognized purposes, and they are deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, retribution, and restitution (Criminal Law, n.d.). Deterrence prevents future crime by frightening the defendant or the public. Incapacitation prevents future crime by removing the defendant from society. Rehabilitation prevents future crime by altering the defendant’s behavior. Retribution prevents future crime by removing the desire for personal avengement against the defendant. Restitution prevents future crime by punishing the defendant financially (Criminal Law, n.d.).Deterrence has two types. Specific deterrence applies to an individual and general applies to the entire public (Chalfin & McCrary, 2017). There is robust evidence that criminals respond to increases in police manpower and its repositioning. Experimental research on hot-spot policing and focused deterrence efforts have led to remarkably large decreases in offending (Chalfin & McCrary, 2017). As a law-abiding citizen, I view deterrence as being extremely effective. If I see a police officer on the highway, I immediately double check my speed and proceed to do so until the thought of the police presence is out of my mind. The presence makes us increasingly vigilant. Another example is sobriety checkpoints. These reenforce the fact that you should never consider drinking and driving. I believe that deterrence does both prevent crime and promote a civil society. Incapacitation completely controls the offender and removes the safety threat to society (Duker & Marijke, 2016). Deterrence can draw from incapacitation to a degree because the sentencing can frighten the public. I think that incapacitation does promote a civil society by removing a threat from it, but it cannot prevent future crime all alone when the offender is released back to society. Rehabilitation must be utilized in order for the offender to correct their life path. Since incapacitation is not effective by itself, I do not think that it ranks in the upper echelon of these punishments being discussed.Does rehabilitation prevent future crime and promote a civil society? In 2014, an estimated 6.8 million individuals were under some correctional supervision in the United States (Katsiyannis et al, 2017). Within 5 years of release, 77% of offenders were rearrested with 29% being related to violent offenses (Katsiyannis et al, 2017). The recidivism rates show how rehabilitation is not exactly the most proven form of punishment. The United States is full of great actors, and I believe that some offenders can just use their talents to beat the system until they are caught again. Retribution is the weakest form of punishment when it comes to preventing future crimes. However, it does promote a civil society. If the public is satisfied with the sentencing, then they will act in good order. If the offender does get to a point where they are free back to society, this punishment alone is weak and may not prevent recidivism. The public will believe that they served a fair sentence though. This reminds me of Jeffrey Dahmer and how he was sentenced to life in prison instead of the death sentence for his murders of at least fifteen men. A fellow inmate took retribution into their own hands and gave him his own death sentence. I believe that restitution can be effective regarding white-collar and non-violent crime. For those types of crimes, it will promote a civil society and prevent future occurrences. In general, I do not believe that restitution will be effective for all types of crime. These offenders may have gotten away for their crimes for an exceptionally long time and they finally got caught. Some will pay back money for the rest of their lives, and they are largely on the radar of the police. Jordan Belfort or “The Wolf of Wallstreet” comes to mind here. He ripped off over 1,000 clients through fraud and he is now paying them back to the tune of over $100 Million. After reviewing the five types, I conclude that deterrence is the most important to the posed question. The Hamilton Project report helps me further believe in my decision. The crime rate in the United States fell 45% between 1960 and 2012 (Kearney et al, 2014). At this time, police officers increased per capita by approximately 14% which bolstered deterrence to a significant degree (Kearney et al, 2014). The increased police presence both deters crime and promotes safety for the citizens. ReferencesChalfin, & McCrary, J. (2017). Criminal Deterrence: A Review of the Literature. Journal of Economic Literature, 55(1), 5–48. https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.20141147Criminal Law- Chapter 1: Introduction to Criminal Law and Chapter 2: The Legal System in the United States (n.d.) Retrieved January 6, 2022 from https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_criminal-law/s05-05-the-purposes-of-punishment.htmlDuker, M. & Marijke, M. (2016). Incapacitation: Trends and New Perspectives. Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315588223Katsiyannis, Whitford, D. K., Zhang, D., & Gage, N. A. (2017). Adult Recidivism in United States: A Meta-Analysis 1994–2015. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 27(3), 686–696. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0945-8Kearney, M., Harris, B., Jácome, E., & Parker, L. (2014). Ten Economic Facts about Crime and Incarceration in the United States. Hamiltonproject.org. Retrieved 6 January 2022, from https://www.hamiltonproject.org/assets/legacy/files/downloads_and_links/v8_THP_10CrimeFacts.pdf.Classmate 2 Michael: This week’s materials covered the several types (purposes) of punishment available in the criminal justice system. Those types were incapacitation, rehabilitation, retribution, deterrence, and restitution or restoration.Incapacitation is not a punishment as much as it is prevention. Someone who gets incapacitated is prevented from committing another crime if he is incapacitated. The form that incapacitation takes can be anything from simple home detention to the death penalty.Rehabilitation can be performed to help an offender overcome whatever defect they have or had that led them to commit the crime. The things that are done in a rehabilitation program may not be easily seen as punishment. Putting someone into an education or vocation program, paid for by the taxpayers, may be hard to accept as punishment for a criminal offender.Retribution may be the most basic of all punishments. This is simply punishing someone to satisfy our desire to see someone held responsible for a crime. The reading referred to a “satisfaction” a person and/or society receives from seeing someone being held liable for an act against that person or society. Deterrence takes two shapes, specific or general. Specific deterrence is directed at a specific criminal, to deter him from violating another law. General deterrence is directed at society in general and designed to deter all of us from committing certain crimes. The idea is to strike fear in the heart of a group of people to deter them from committing a criminal act in the future.Restitution or restoration refers to the criminal doing something to “make it right” with the victim(s) of his crime. Typically, the offender and victim(s) are brought together so the offender can listen to the victim speak of the damage done to them or how the experience affected them. They might also have to pay back the victim for any losses incurred. In an ideal scenario, the offender issues an apology and is forgiven by the offended person. The act of restitution might also involve replacing what was lost or damaged. This type of punishment is more common in juvenile justice settings.Each of the above listed types of punishment has benefits and disadvantages. And those benefits and disadvantages differ depending on the nature of the criminal act, who the offender is, and who the victim is. For example, someone kidnaps and murders a child. How can any form of restitution help that child’s parents or be a punishment that would help maintain a civil society? On the other hand, if a bank teller embezzles $50,000 from their bank, and they still have that amount of resources and assets, restitution would be a fitting punishment. If our goal is to prevent future crime while also promoting a civil society, we will have to implement punishments that are combinations of the five mentioned above. Furthermore, the punishment should “fit the crime.” It would also be helpful if psychological screening methods could be refined to help the criminal justice system decide what punishment is best in a particular scenario. If someone is a psychopath, deterrence approaches will fail (Gregory et al., 2015). The nature of the offender is an important consideration. Arguing for a system that takes all these factors into account means a return to “pre-guideline” days. Federal and state courts implemented sentencing guidelines in large part to reduce sentencing disparities caused by race, economic class, and other factors that were considered to be prejudicial to certain segments of society. But judges have shown some ability to fairly sentence without strict adherence to such guidelines (Fischman & Schanzenbach, 2012). The Hamilton Project report, “Ten Economic Facts about Crime and Incarceration in the United States,”(Kearney et al., 2014)was interesting. It is hard for me to read things from the Brookings Institution (or the Heritage Foundation) without considering they have inherent bias and are not going to go public with anything that contradicts their own political leanings. This report did nothing to change my perception of Brookings, nor did it change my thinking on the issue of punishment types/purposes. The many statistics cited in the report seemed to be used as an argument against incarceration. But to some, the statistics nay be arguing differently. For example, we can assume it is true the numbers of incarcerated folks continue to rise while crime continued to decline. But what does that mean? That we should reduce incarceration. Some might argue that increased incarceration is precisely why there is reduced crime. The fact that incarcerating people costs money is unarguable. We just need to decide how much we are willing to spend to protect our law-abiding citizens from the criminal element. The report covered the expenses of incarceration but never offered any recommendations about how much was enough or too much. When there are discussions of the cost of incarceration, the focus typically is on “how to reduce the numbers of incarcerated.” That might reduce the costs of incarceration, but when governments must build more expensive facilities with greater “amenities” or upgrade existing ones to have those “amenities,” that is probably impacting the cost of incarceration also. I already realized incarceration is not always the best punishment for a criminal act. The nature of the crime, the criminal, and the victim, all should be considered. The Hamilton Project report did nothing to alter that belief.ReferencesChapter 1 Introduction to Criminal Law. Introduction to Criminal Law. (n.d.). Retrieved January 4, 2022, from https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_criminal-law/s05-introduction-to-criminal-law.htmlFischman, J. B., & Schanzenbach, M. M. (2012, November 6). Racial disparities under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines: The role of Judicial Discretion and mandatory minimums. Wiley Online Library. Retrieved January 4, 2022, from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1740-1461.2012.01266.xGregory, S., Blair, R. J., Ffytche, D., Simmons, A., Kumari, V., Hodgins, S., & Blackwood, N. (2015, February). Punishment and psychopathy: A case-control functional MRI investigation of reinforcement learning in violent antisocial personality disordered men. The Lancet. Psychiatry. Retrieved January 4, 2022, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26359751/Kearney, M.S., Harris, B.H., Jácome, E., & Parker, L. (2014). Ten Economic Facts about Crime and Incarceration in the United States. Retrieved January 3, 2022, from https://www.hamiltonproject.org/assets/legacy/files/downloads_and_links/v8_THP_10CrimeFacts.pdfClassmate 3 Natalie: There are five different purposes of punishment known as deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, retribution, and restitution. The purpose of deterrence is to invoke fear into both the defendant and the individuals of society so that the crime will be less likely to occur again. For example, as a soldier, it is known to not participate in any illegal substances, otherwise if caught, the soldier will be removed from the Army. Therefore, this consequence of being removed from the Army invokes fear into soldiers. Thus, soldiers are warned of random drug tests every month so that it can deter from illegal substance use. “Incapacitation prevents future crime by removing the defendant from society” (Introduction to Criminal Law, p 10). This purpose of punishment quite literally takes the defendant out of society, as stated previously, so that society can try to evolve or sustain the life that they had before the crime was committed. Examples of this purpose of punishment could be life imprisonment or even the death penalty, such as seen with John Wayne Gary back in the 1980’s. Rehabilitation offers defendants the chance to alter their behavior in a positive connotation so that when it is their time to return to society the defendant can aim to pursue a positive lifestyle. However, the key component to this purpose of punishment is the willingness of the defendant to change their behavior. An example of rehabilitation is prison work programs. Prison work programs allow for inmates to learn various skills that can be utilized in a professional setting once they have returned to society. These skills include, but are limited to, timeliness, teamwork, and respect. The purpose of punishment in regard to retribution can be determined as an eye for an eye. Essentially, if a defendant murdered someone, and the defendant then receives the death penalty, depending on the society and victim’s feelings, this form of justice can be seen as satisfactory. An example of this can be seen in the movie, Law Abiding Citizen. In the movie, Gerald Butler’s character seeks retribution for the murder of his wife and daughter. One of the individuals that was involved in the crime received the death penalty for the criminal acts that occurred, however, the other individual that was involved received a lesser sentence and was then released back into society. Gerald Butler’s character did not believe that justice was served for the other individual involved, therefore, he took the matter into his own hands and ended up murdering the other individual involved. In addition, it is seen throughout the movie that Butler’s character ends up seeking “justice” on the other individual’s involved in the case, such as the judge. While this is not necessarily a positive way of promoting a civil society, Butler’s character saw this as preventing crime and promoting a civil society so that no one endured the lack of justice that he received. Restitution focuses on the financial aspect of punishing a defendant for their crime, The defendant committed a crime, now they have to pay for their actions. For example, if a defendant was driving under the influence and got in an accident then they would pay for the possible damages of the car, as well as medical expenses if there were ant injuries. Based on these descriptions, I believe that rehabilitation and restitution are the most important to the prevention of crime and promoting a civil society. An example of rehabilitation occurred with the Supreme Court case of the U.S. v Hinckley. The Supreme Court recognized that Hinckley was mentally ill after attempting to assassinate former president, Ronald Reagan, therefore, he received medical treatment for decades. After decades of rehabilitation, Hinckley was released, however, there were many restrictions to follow, such as, “no proximity to current presidents, vice presidents, members of Congress or other senior members of an administration” (Harris, 2016). After obeying restrictions and other guidelines, it is required by the law that in June of 2022, Hinckley is to have a full release. The criminal justice system was able to prevent crime from occurring by providing Hinckley with medical assistance that was away from society, as well as provide him the ability to enter society in a safe manner. Nothing in life is ever free, this includes criminal acts that occur. “There are tremendous costs to the victims of crime, such as medical costs, lost earnings, and an overall loss in quality of life” (Kearney, et al., 2014, p 1). While those affected by a crime are already burdened, by making the defendant pay for their criminal acts, it allows for the economic burden to be lifted off of the victim’s shoulders. If the defendant cannot afford to pay for their actions then there are programs in prison that allow for them to make an allowance which can automatically be given to the victim until the defendant’s debt is paid off. An example is a Prison Industry Enhancement Work Program. A PIE program, “in Colorado can bring in up to $400 per month” (2017). Thus, the defendant is prevented from committing any other criminal acts due to their residence in prison, in addition to promoting a civil society by paying off the economic burden of their acts. ReferencesHarris, G. (2016, July 27). John Hinckley, Who Tried to Kill Reagan, Will Be Released (Published 2016). Retrieved from https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2016/07/28/us/hinckley-who-tried-to-kill-reagan-to-be-released.amp.htmlHow Do Prison Work Programs Really Benefit Inmates? (2017, December 27). Retrieved from https://web.connectnetwork.com/prison-work-programs/
Requirements: 250 words each