Criminal Law and Procedure: A Courtroom Approach
Chapter Summaries
Chapter 13 explores sentencing as society's retribution for an offender's crime and punishment is intended to protect society from the offender. Upon conviction a defendant no longer enjoys the presumption of innocence: All the evidence used to convict is believed true. The guilty judgment allows the government to take away the defendant’s liberty through the imposition of a prison sentence, the monitoring of his or her activity by operation of probation conditions, including drug testing or electronic monitoring. Once out of jail, the same restriction of a defendant’s liberty may continue through the imposition of parole. On parole if an offender violates conditions set by the court, the court can order him or her back to prison to serve the remainder of his or her sentence. The Chapter-Opening Case Study is a case excerpt from WI v. Loomis (2016) where a defendant complains about COMPAS risk assessment to illustrate the move away from human assessment to mathematical-based algorithms to determine an offender’s appropriate sentence. The Eighth Amendment’s ban on “cruel and unusual” punishment is illustrated by the Harmelin v. MI (1991) case excerpt (pp. 377–378), where harsh punishments are permissible if not severely disproportionate, the presentence investigation and sentencing hearing process are explored (pp. 379–380); the types of sentences and an illustration of the federal sentencing guidelines using a hypothetical of noted historical gangster Al Capone and his gang are used for illustrative purposes only (not included is a detailed analysis about grouping of offenses, (pp. 380–383); constitutional limits on sentencing enhancements in federal court are discussed (pp. 384–385) as well as different types of sentences (pp. 385–388) with a special emphasis on recent case law development with juveniles and life without parole sentences for both homicide and non-homicide offenses (pp. 389–392) illustrated by the Miller v. AL (2012) case excerpt. Making the Courtroom Connection addresses the unique self-care challenges faced by those working in corrections (p. 392). Expungements and parsons are discussed (p. 393) and the death penalty is more fully explored (pp. 393–395) after being introduced in Chapter 2, particularly how the death-qualification process virtually ensures a conviction and the prosecutor’s failure to seek the death penalty against famous football star O. J. Simpson at his double murder trial may contributed to the jury’s verdict (p. 43). New evidence and exonerations in sentencing are discussed (pp. 395–396), and the competency issue is revisited from Chapter 12, but specifically addressed to the execution process (pp. 396–397). The appeals and habeas corpus process is detailed, including a claim of actual innocence (pp. 398–401).