CCJS 345 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Misdemeanor, Sexual Assault, Public Defender

• School: University of Maryland
• Department: Criminology and Criminal Justice
• Course: CCJS 345
• Professor: Dr.Anastasia Tosouni

Document Summary

Judges are presented with a set of hypothetical cases and to indicate the sentence that they would impose. Researchers collect data on actual cases decided by judges in a particular jurisdiction. Judges first decide whether offender should be incarcerated. Then they decide how long the sentence should be. Case characteristics and offender attributes that judges are legally authorized to take into consideration. Case characteristics and offender attributes that judges are either legally prohibited from taking into consideration or that bear no rational relationship to the purpose of sentencing. Judges are legally and morally justified in taking crime seriousness and prior record into account in making sentencing decision. Legislations devise penal codes or sentencing guideline based on these facts. Crimes against strangers as indicators of more viciousness. The offender has previously been convicted of a misdemeanor or felony. The offender has ever been convicted of a violent crime. The offender was on probation or parole at the time of arrest.