Mistreated Shoes
...friend Rhonda Bong in the head as she sat next to her infant son. (Passmore 1) Killing a person should be more than just a two year and 20 day punishment. 2. Homicide Victims Support Group state co-coordinator Bernadette Shanahan said: “The 380-plus families which the group is in contact with throughout the inadequacy in then sentencing imposed for manslaughter.” (Passmore 1) This case undermines the integrity of the Criminal Justice System as no closure was enforced. II. When a criminal action takes place, it should be the courts responsibility to see that the proper punishment is given. A. Plea-bargaining, especially in serious offenses, doesn’t bring justice every time. It gives the defendant the chance to get a lenient punishment. 1. “In 1994, 85 percent of Americans maintained that the courts in there are dealt “not harshly enough” with criminals.” (Bessette 1) 2. Justice isn’t served when criminals are allowed to get out of the punishment they deserve, especially serious cases that deal with a large amount of people or affect the public greatly. a. According to U.S. Department of Justice data on actual time served by those leaving state prisons, half the murders serve seven years or less, half the rapists serve less than four years, half the robbers serve two years and three months or less, half of those convicted of felony assault (often called aggravated assault) serve one year and four months or less, and half the drug traffickers serve one year and two months or less. Altogether, half of the 54,000 violent offenders who were released from prisons in 36 states in 1992 served two years or less behind bars. (Bessette 1) b. It’s definitely a problem when these criminals don’t’ serve the proper punishment the first time and strike again. c. For instance, a man terrorized young women when he would break into their homes in the early mornings. He only served six years in the state prison for raping 14 women. The day he was released, he raped again. By the time he was sent back to prison, he had raped a total of 10 women during a 2-year span, which he only served an additional eight years for, even though it was he second time. (Bessette 2) d. Plea-bargaining definitely just displayed that no justice is served with violent or serious offenders, especially when they strike again once they get out. e. A person should not be able to bargain their way out of their sentence when they go against their Constitution and proceed to break serious laws. 3. “In fact, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the vast majority of felony convictions in this country are the result of a guilty plea (89 percent) rather than a trial before a judge (5 percent) or jury (6 percent). As expected, those who plead guilty are, crime for crime, less likely to be sentenced to prison than those found guilty after trial.” (Bessette 3) III. Another concern with plea-bargaining is the possibility of forcing innocent defendants to plead guilty. (Kress 1) A. The harsher penalties associated with conviction at trial provide the prosecutor with leverage to persuade the defendants to plead guilty, even if they are innocent. B. Sometimes the cost of pleading guilty outweighs the risks of going to trial. C. Therefore, the incentives of the state’s offer create an increased risk of innocent defendants receiving punishment. (Guidorizzi 8) IV. To stay away from lenient punishments and bringing no closure to cases, plea-bargaining needs to be banned in all serious offense like felonies. A. Plea-bargaining has been banned completely in Alaska for the same reasons critics have criticized this practice. B. In 1975, Alaska Attorney General Avrum Gross banned plea-bargaining in Ala...