Chp 15
Retribution: Punishment given as a revenge
for wrong doing
Deterrence: Discourages offenders from
committing another crime in the future
Rehabilitation: Helping convicted persons
change their behavior
Incapacitation: Criminal is separated from the
community and the community is protected
The sentence is given but does not have to be
served at the time it is imposed.
However, the defendant may have to serve
the time later if s/he is rearrested on another
charge or violates a condition of probation.
The defendant is released to the supervision
of a probation officer after agreeing to follow
certain conditions, such as getting a job,
staying drug-free, and not traveling outside
of the area.
The defendant is sentenced to serve the term
at home. Normally, the only time that this
defendant can leave his/her home is for
essential purposes such as work, school, or a
doctor’s appointment.
The defendant’s activities are sometimes
electronically monitored by a probation
officer.
After serving 5 months in a minimum security federal
prison, dubbed “Camp Cupcake,” Martha Stewart was
granted permission to serve the other 5 months on home
confinement.
She had to wear an electronic ankle bracelet and was
allowed to leave her home up to 48 hours a week to
work, run errands, and shop.
The defendant must pay the government an
amount of money set by the court (within the
bounds of the law.)
The defendant is required to pay back or
make up for whatever loss or injury was
caused to the victim of the crime.
The defendant is allowed to work in the
community but is required to return to prison
at night or on the weekends.
The defendant is sentenced to a term in jail or
prison.
Some states require that a definate sentence be
given, in which case the judge specifies the exact
amount of time to be served.
Some states, like Texas, provide for an
indeterminate term, in which case the sentence
is stated not as a specific number of years but as
a minimum and maximum term.
Jails are operated by cities & counties.
Used to detain people awaiting trial and to hold
mental patients, drug addicts, alcoholics, juvenile
offenders, and felons on a temporary basis as they
await a transfer to other facilities.
Jails also hold people convicted of misdemeanors for
which their sentence is a year or less.
Jails vary in size from big-city/county facilities holding
thousands of inmates a day to small rural jails
consisting of an office and a few cells.
Prisons are operated by federal or state
governments.
They are used to incarcerate people convicted of
more serious crimes, usually felonies, for which
the sentence is more than one year.
U.S. prisons range in size from small facilities to
huge, maximum security penitentiaries sprawling
over thousands of acres.
Parole: The release of an offender, by
decision of a parole panel, to serve the
remainder of his or her sentence under
supervision in the community.
Offenders may only be paroled if they receive
approval from a parole panel and if they have
served enough of their sentence to be eligible by
law for parole. Parole is a privilege, not a right.
Mandatory Supervision Release:
Certain offenders may accrue enough
combined “calendar time” and “good
time” to qualify by law for mandatory
supervision release prior to completion
of their entire sentence.
Mandatory offenders, like parolees, are
subject to conditions of release as
determined by a parole panel and are
obligated to complete the remaining portion
of their sentences under TDCJ Parole
Division supervision in the community.
Good conduct time or “good time” is time
credited to an offender for good behavior and
for participating in work and self-
improvement programs while incarcerated.
For many – but not all – offenders, “good time”
credits may be added to calendar time served in
calculating their eligibility for parole or mandatory
supervision. “Good time” does not otherwise affect
an offender’s sentence.
Good conduct time is a privilege and not a
right. In accordance with TDCJ’s institutional
rules, prison officials may award or take away
“good time” based on an offender’s behavior.
Prison officials keep all records on earned
“good time.”
Direct Discharge: Offenders who are
not granted parole and who are not
eligible for mandatory supervision
release must remain in the prison
system until they have served all of
their court-ordered sentence and are
discharged from state custody.
No post-release supervision
requirements can be imposed on such
discharged offenders.
Leave prison on their minimum expiration
dates and serve the remainder of their
sentences on mandatory supervision, or
Discharged from the prison system.
An inmate is legally eligible only to be considered
for parole when he has met the statutory time
requirements.
Up to the parole board members to decide if an
inmate has adjusted properly in the institution:
has satisfactorily completed his prescribed program,
is no longer a threat to society,
and is ready to accept the responsibilities of a law-abiding
citizen.
The governor has the authority to grant executive
clemency upon the written recommendation of a
majority of the Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Executive clemency includes:
full pardons,
conditional pardons,
pardons based on innocence,
commutations of sentence, and
emergency medical reprieves.
In capital cases, the Board considers petitions for
commutation of sentence to life in prison and for a reprieve of
execution. If the Board recommends clemency in a death
penalty case, the governor may grant commutation or
reprieve. The governor can also grant a one-time thirty-day
reprieve of execution in these cases.
No excessive bail or fines
No cruel and unusual punishment
Prisoners working on a chain gang?
Prisoners having to eat “the loaf?”
Prisoners not getting the type of cereal they
want? Or crunchy v. creamy peanut butter?
Prisoners not getting adequate health care?
“3 strikes and you’re out” laws.
Recidivist: repeat offender
Ewing v. CA (2003)
Methods Explained
Furman v. Georgia (1972)
Death penalty in this case is Unconstitutional.
It was being used indiscriminately against blacks.
States must do 2 things:
▪ Allow defendant to show all evidence of why they
should not received the DP, in the punishment phase.
▪ Have an automatic appeal.
Gregg v. Georgia (1976)
Death penalty in this case IS Constitutional.
And…Texas got after it after that!
Texas has carried out 463
executions since the US Supreme Court
reintroduced the death penalty in 1976.
(as of 2010)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6959665.stm
Thompson v. Oklahoma (1986)
Juveniles must be at least 16 years of age at the
time of the crime, to receive the DP.
Stanford v. Kentucky (1989)
Upheld Thompson—16 still the rule.
Roper v. Simmons (2004)
A person must now be at least 18 years of age at
the time of the crime, to receive the DP.
Juveniles. (Roper v. Simmons)
Mentally retarded. (Atkins v. VA, 2001)
Mentally insane.
Lethal injection in Texas consists of:
Sodium Thiopental (lethal dose—sedates person)
Pancuronium Bromide (muscle relaxant—
collapses diaphragm and lungs)
Potassim Chloride (stops heart beat)
▪ Usually pronounced dead approx. 7 minutes after LJ
begins.
▪ Cost per execution for drugs used: $86.08.
▪ Cost of one appeal to Texas Ct. of Crim. Appls.: $40,000+
Average time on Death Row in TX: 10.43 years.
Cost per day in prison per offender: $62.00
Supreme Court considered last term, whether
lethal injection is constitutional.
Case involves two death row inmates in
Kentucky.
Inmates allege lethal injection is cruel and
unusual punishment.
Method in question is used in 37 states
Lethal Injection Debate