Week 5 Initial Discussion Post
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Southern New Hampshire University *
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Course
205
Subject
Law
Date
Jan 9, 2024
Type
docx
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Uploaded by PresidentChimpanzee824
After reading about the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 and the subsequent adjustments ordered by the
Supreme Court, consider how these changes impact an individual judge's view of a "reasonable
sentence." Then, in a post to this discussion topic, answer these questions:
Describe how you would tell a "reasonable" sentence from an unreasonable one—what are the
hallmarks of a reasonable sentence?
How does a forensic psychologist's sentencing evaluation affect what would be considered a
"reasonable sentence"?
After reading about the changes to the Sentencing Reform Act (SRA), do you agree with the Supreme
Court’s decision to grant more discretion to federal judges? Why or why not?
A reasonable sentence weighs what the perpetrator did versus what the outcome will be. If a person
murders someone, they deserve a longer sentence than someone who steals a car for instance,
obviously. Where the waters become muddy is when sentences become draconian in nature and force
otherwise law-abiding citizens into sentences that just aren’t warranted for the crime committed and
then can lead to other negative outcomes for that person. Longer and heavier prison sentences can
make a person’s stay in prison not one of rehabilitation, one can argue that’s gone out the window in the
country as of currently anyway, but of strict punishment. A line must be made to take sentencing from
reasonable to retributive sentencing as well.
A forensic psychologist will weigh in on sentencing and make a judgment on whether they think the
sentencing will actually help a convicted person, the judge does not have to take the information to task
when dealing with sentencing though. Their insight into the mind of humans can help objectively weigh
if a sentence is just and reasonable or not.
In the end, the judges being the arbiters of the justice that is put forth seems to be the best way of doing
it currently. Being as how every case is unique and just as the evidence needs to be gone over with a
fine-toothed comb, so does the sentencing. This allows for the judges to make sentencing calls more
varied and hopefully more just to the specific cases and defendants that the cases represent.
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