Purpose and Strategies of Criminal Sentencing, Essay Example

Criminal sentencing is purposely meant to give the offenders the punishment they deserve; which should be appropriate to the severity of the crime they have committed. The sentencing and punishment must be in accordance with the law and imposed against the actual offender. The punishment must be authorized by the relevant body that is meant to subject it. This means that there are strategies that are normally put in place to ensure that the purpose of a criminal sentence has been met. Retribution is purposely meant to ensure that the offender receives the punishment that is equivalent to the unlawful act she/he has done. Deterrence is enforced put to ensure that those who are jailed reform from the behavior.Rehabilitation is emulated by the justice process to see that those imprisoned turn out to be useful and reproductive members of the society. Restorationensures that the prisoner is able to come back to the financial position she/he was before imprisonment. Finally, the purpose of restoration is to limit the essence of a similar offence being repeated.

Retribution states that the offence committed by a criminal is sufficient to make him/her punished for the offence. This means that the punishment for any offender is justifiable by the unlawful behavior committed by him/her.The strategies for issuing the punishment are outline in the constitution and must be followed by the judges.

Deterrence outlines that the punishment that is given to the offender should be able to correct the behavior of the person. A punishment that cannot correct the behavior of the offender is not supposed to be applied since the real purpose of sentencing will not be met. Rehabilitation implies that Sentencing does not just aim at correcting the offender for the unlawful acts done but is also meant to restore them and make them productive individuals of the community. The educative aspect of sentencing is evident in this rationale in that the prisoners are educated to be useful members of the society after their term.

Restoration ensures thatCriminal Sentences can results to an individual being economically redundant due to the period spent in the jail. The strategy ensures that prisoners can immediately live their previous normal lives before their sentence. It should ensure that individuals can be restored to their financial positions they were before the sentence.

Incapacitation serves the purpose of ensuring that there are no future similar acts of crimes committed by the accused. The courts and prisons should ensure that the offences that are triggering sentencing are not repeated in future. Some states enforce this law by passing long sentences to offenders of the third felony. Meaning that if one is found guilty of offences for the third time is given a long sentence.

All the rationales of sentencing individuals bring out the real meaning of prisons as places where values are build giving hope for life after custody. They are the basis for passing any kind of judgment and ensure that those who are being sentenced receive a fair treatment. The purposes of the prison rationales, therefore, bring justice to reality.