CASE STUDY Review a felony case study that involved an appeal due to excessive sentencing. Provide an overview of the case, and use critical thinking skills and analysis to determine if the sentencing

Unit VI, Sentencing Slide 1 Hello everyone, welcome to Unit VI. Slide 2 The textbook states that the death penalty is the harshest punishment for a crime (Siegel & Worrall, 2019) . The United States reinstated the death penalty in 1976. However, the use of the death penalty has been decreasing as of late. Do you think that this is a good thing or bad thing? In 1999, 98 people were executed. However, in 2016, only 20 people were executed in United States. So why is there decline in the use of the death pe nalty? Is society safer than previously? And is it that people are just not committing crime as much as before? Or is there something more to this ? The textbook discusses how the appetite for the death penalty has decreased in society (Siegel & Worrall, 20 19) . So the next question may be why . Why do people dislike the use of the death penalty for serious crimes, such as murder, compared to other periods in history? The authors indicate that the only states to carry out executions in 2016 were Georgia, Alab ama, Missouri, Texas , and Florida (Siegel & Worrall, 2019) . Slide 3 So, what are the overall goals of sentencing a person to prison? One goal of sentencing is deterrence. If people see that individuals are being given prison time for certain crimes, thi s will deter other citizens in the community from committing those crimes. Another goal of sentencing is to keep dangerous criminals confined and away from other people in society so that they will not hurt them. Retribution is an other goal of sentencing, where as the person believes that he or she deserves to be punished for committing the crime. The textbook also discusses that rehabilitation is also a goal of sentencing (Siegel & Worrall, 2019) . So do you really think that sending someone to prison is a form of rehabilitation? Can certain criminals be rehabilitated? In the case of Dylan n Roof, we talked about earlier in this course who went to a church where people were gathering peacefully, and he murdered nine African Americans. Do you think that a per son like this can be rehabilitated? Slide 4 In this chapter, you will also examine the various sentencing models. The first is the indeterminate sentence. This type of sentencing basically provides a minimum amount of time and the maximum amount of time that a person will receive in prison. Additionally, the textbook states that such a sentence will be for a period of 3 to 10 years (Siegel & Worrall, 2019) . So in this case the criminal will receive a minimum of 3 years in prison and a maximum of 10 years on prison. The next type of sentencing is the determinant sentencing. This offers a fixed term of years ; however, it gives discretion to the judge. For example, if a person is convicted of manslaughter, and by law the judge provide s a sentence of 3 to 10 years, the judge has discretion. In this case, if a criminal has committed manslaughter previously, the judge may sentence the criminal for the maximum of 10 years. The textbook discusses how the three -strike law is the most common type of determinate sentence (Siegel & Worrall, 2019) . The three -strike policy is basically when a person commits three felonies, they will subsequently receive the maximum amount of time in prison. The other type of sentencing is m andatory sentencing. Mandatory sentencing is usually given to a person who was convicted of a serious crime. With mandatory sentence s, judges do not have that much discretion when it comes to sentencing. Slide 5 Now we briefly discuss ed the death penalt y and how the death penalty is barely used compared to the amount of times the death penalty was executed previously. Doctors Larry S ieg el and John Worrall (2019) examined the pros and cons of the death penalty. They indicated that approximately 15,000 pe ople had been executed in the United States (Siegel & Worrall, 2019) . Arguments for the death penalty indicates it helps with deterrence. Some people believe that having the death penalty would act as a deterrent. People would then think twice about commit ting a serious crime since they know that the death penalty will be utilized. Other arguments for the death penalty is morally correct and that it's proportional to the crime. So what do you think? Do you think that the death penalty is morally correct? S upporters of the death penalty also states that it reflects public opinion and that there is unlikely chance of error. The textbook also discusses arguments against the death penalty, and some of these reasons are as follow s. The possibility for error, we ak public support, little deterrent effect, gender and race biases, it's expensive , and it's morally wrong (Siegel & Worrall, 2019) . So what are your thoughts? Reference Siegel, L. J., & Worrall, J. L. (2019). Essentials of criminal justice (11th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage.