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Sentencing Disparity

            What are your thoughts on sentencing disparity?.
             Sentence disparity is a term used to describe the variations and equities that result when defendants convicted of the same crime receive varying sentences; may refer also to varying sentences from state to state. An example of sentencing disparity is if a three-time offender in one jurisdiction receives 5 years for armed robbery, whereas a three-time offender in another jurisdiction receives 15 years for the same offense.
             In my opinion sentencing disparity is unfair. I believe that there should be equal time for the same crime. The justice system should create a sentencing score to go by when handing down sentences. The score should be the same for all jurisdictions in all states and should be followed exactly as written. Judges have too much authority when it comes to sentencing. All judges are not fair and we as realistic citizens can not expect them to be because that would be unrealistic. So, therefore when it comes to sentencing the people or the race that a particular judge may be prejudice against does not receive fair sentencing, whereas others that the judge may not be prejudice against and may even know does get fair treatment. Judges jobs are to make decisions based on what they hear in court, but just like all people judges also have bad days meaning that one day one person may receive 15 years with the possibility of parole for armed robbery and the next day another person may receive 25 years without the possibility of parole. This is unfair to the people who commit crimes because they are not treated equally by the criminal justice system. In the long run this could cause the criminal justice system money because of the appeals that inmates may come back with after figuring they have not treated equally by the criminal justice system. If I had a chance to become a Judge I would pass because it comes with too many stipulations and it is also a dangerous job.


Essays Related to Sentencing Disparity

1. Cultural Diversity and Criminal Justice

Yet, racial disparities in sentencing outcomes and incarceration rates continue to give rise to serious questions about how and through what processes race continues to affect sentencing outcomes. ... While sentencing reforms have dramatically altered the way criminal defendants are sentenced, it is not clear whether they have reduced racial disparities in sentences. Some researchers suggest that racial disparities in sentence outcomes have been reduced or eliminated through structure-sentencing models, while others suggest that strict structure-sentencing policies have actually exacerbated ra...

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2. Crack Cocaine Prisoners Released Early by Fair Sentencing Law

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3. Criminal Sentencing and Reform

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4. Racial Disparity in Criminal Law and Justice

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6. Reducing Racial Disparity in the Criminal Justice System

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7. American Criminal Justice

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8. Cocaine

Congress rejected the amendment by the Sentencing Commission to eliminate the sentencing disparity between crack and powder. ... People should not have to serve a longer sentence due to the difference in price. The 100:1 quantity ratio in cocaine sentencing causes low-level crack offenders to receive illogically severe sentences compared to high level powder cocaine offenders. The quantity distinction has also resulted in a massive sentencing disparity by race, with African Americans receiving longer sentences than the mostly white and Hispanic powder cocaine offenders. ... In April 1997, th...

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9. Criminals and Mandatory Minimum Sentences

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