Structured Sentencing Essay Research Paper Research Paper

Structured Sentencing Essay, Research Paper

Research Paper Structured Sentencing

Promising to get tough on crime has become popular with politicians and much of the public. But in the late 1980s North Carolina came to realize that the promise can carry a high price, resulting in expensive prison-building programs, diminished space for violent offenders, a mismatch between sentences and actual time served, violations of federal decrees on prison overcrowding, and ultimately, a broad failure of public confidence in the judicial and corrections systems.

Not long ago, North Carolina’s prison cells were filling up at an increasing rate each day, but they held too many of the wrong people–nonviolent, low-priority felons. The sentencing system that was in effect was erratic and uneven. Offenders served very small portions of the sentences that judges imposed. A typical offender, after remaining in detention for several weeks or months between the time of arrest and the judge’s imposition of sentence after conviction, often had no time remaining to be served on the sentence (US). This often happened for individuals with a relatively serious felony. So the problem that evolved was the Parole Commission had to release many of the offenders shortly after their sentence was imposed. The Parole Commission could not keep

all the inmates that should be in jail because of over crowding in the prisons (NC).

The problems of the system also extended to probation, restitution, and other non-prison punishments. The threatened prison time for violating non-prison sanctions was so short that it did not deter the probation violations. Most individuals would rather spend a couple of days in jail rather then going through treatment programs and having to answer to a probation officer for years (SPAC). To overcome these problems the State of North Carolina followed recommendations from the state s Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission to establish a Structured Sentencing System. The North Carolina Sentencing and Policy Advisory Commission consists of a twenty-eight-member body created to provide recommendations in sentencing and correctional policies for the State of North Carolina. In 1993 the North Carolina legislature passed the Structured Sentencing Law. Structured Sentencing became effective for all felony and misdemeanor crimes, excluding Driving While Impaired, committed on or after October 1, 1994 (NC). The new sentencing law classifies felons based on the severity of their crime and the extent and gravity of their prior record. Based on these classifications the type and length of sentence is prescribed (NC). The specific components of structured sentencing include offense classes, prior record levels and sentence disposition. Based on these factors, judges are provided with a variety of sentencing options for the type and length of the sentences (Wright).

Structured Sentencing is intended to restore front-end control and rational planning to the criminal justice system. Under the new sentencing laws, incarceration will increase for violent and career offenders (prison is mandatory in most cases) but decrease for less serious offenders with little or no prior record (US). Most of those incarcerated will serve more time than they did under the old law and most violent and career offenders will serve significantly more time than they did under the old law. Parole was eliminated and truth in sentencing was restored under the new law. The new law sets priorities for the use of expensive correctional resources and balances sentencing policies with correctional capacity (NC). Structured Sentencing has proved to be stable and efficient. The program is anything but soft on crime. Under the new law individuals have to serve one hundred percent of their minimum sentence (average of 40 months), whereas before the law was passed, offenders would serve less than twenty percent of their sentenced time. To reduce over-crowding in the prisons the state diverted some of the non-violent offenders into community-based rehabilitation programs.

Crimes are classified into two main categories, felonies and misdemeanors (NC). Felony crimes are classified into letter classes, from Offense Class A through Class I, based on the actual or potential harm to the victim normally associated with the crime. Class A includes the most serious felonies while Class I includes the least serious felonies. Felonies that involve victim injury or the risk

of victim injury are assigned to the higher classes. Property crimes and other not as serious crimes that do not involve injury or risk of injury are assigned to lower classes. Misdemeanor crimes are classified into four classes: Class A1, Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3. Class A1 are for the most serious misdemeanors and class 3 are for the lease serious crimes. Offenders, felony and misdemeanor, are classified into certain levels depending on the degree and magnitude of their prior record. Felony offenders are classified into one of six prior record levels, from Prior Record Level I through Level VI. Felons with an extensive criminal and violent background are assigned to the higher level whereas offenders with little or no prior record are assigned to the lower levels. Misdemeanor offenders are classified into one of three prior record levels depending on the number of prior convictions (NC).

The type of sente