StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Adequacy of Criminal Law and Punishment - Case Study Example

Cite this document
Summary
The study “Adequacy of Criminal Law and Punishment” appeals to the legal norms of American justice, requiring adequate punishment for crimes committed by minors. As far as adolescents cannot fully understand the possible consequences of their actions judges should be condescending to them…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER91.8% of users find it useful

Extract of sample "Adequacy of Criminal Law and Punishment"

The amendment of the US constitution expressly prohibits the application of unusual and cruel punishments. Some of the punishments under this category include crucifixion, burning and breaking on the wheel among other forms of punishment. The prohibition of such punishments was influenced by the need to make punishments more rational and “less painful”. In a case involving the United States and Weems in 1910, a US court ruled that sentencing the convict to 20 years chained imprisonment for giving false testimony amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.

Lionel Tate CaseLionel Tate was accused and initially sentenced for killing Tiffany Eunick in cold blood, callously and indiscriminately an in a cruel manner. The court in its decision sentenced Tate to life imprisonment after considering the evidence presented before it. Even though the defendant later appealed on several bases and was finally set free, the juvenile could be charged for aggravated child abuse, felony murder, premeditated murder, and for giving false testimony (Findlaw.com, 2003).

Tate testified to the effect that he accidentally picked Tiffany and knocked her on the table although it is clear that the injuries that the latter sustained were graver than those which could be inflicted through such an action. The defense to these charges would be to claim that Tate did not understand the consequences of his actions due to mental incompetence. Tate being subjected to life imprisonment was a clear act of cruel and unusual punishment given that he was a juvenile and was supposed to be dealt with as such.

Instead, he was sentenced more like a competent adult – an act which was quite irrational. Alex and Derek King CaseAlex and Derek King were charged for conspiring to murder and murdering their further in cold blood. Apart from committing murder, the two brothers ought to be charged for committing an act of arson as they set their house ablaze after committing the first crime (CNN, 2002). With two mutually exclusive judgments arising from the evidence given by Alex, Derek, and Chavis, it is almost certain that the parties could have given false testimonies to the court.

For the arson charge, the Kings could claim that it was someone else who set the house ablaze and not them. Furthermore, Alex could be defended on the basis of mental incompetence and age – at his age (12) he would not understand the consequences of his actions. The judgment violates the cruel and unusual prohibition of the US constitution for the victims were minors sentenced more like adults.

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(Adequacy of Criminal Law and Punishment Case Study, n.d.)
Adequacy of Criminal Law and Punishment Case Study. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/law/1568203-ethics-in-criminal-justice
(Adequacy of Criminal Law and Punishment Case Study)
Adequacy of Criminal Law and Punishment Case Study. https://studentshare.org/law/1568203-ethics-in-criminal-justice.
“Adequacy of Criminal Law and Punishment Case Study”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/law/1568203-ethics-in-criminal-justice.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Adequacy of Criminal Law and Punishment

The Cost of Capital Punishment

The techniques applied in observing death sentence include lethal injection, electrocution, gas chamber, hanging and killing through the firing squad; all of which impose heavy costs on tax-payers, which they certainly pay for the maintenance of law and order.... The aim of the paper “The Cost of Capital punishment” is to examine capital punishment or death penalty, which serves as the severest punishment introduced and imposed by the authorities in order to reprimand the offenders involved into homicide, rape, sodomy or any other heinous crime of grave nature....
4 Pages (1000 words) Term Paper

Death Penalty and Deterrence

According to the report, the death penalty or capital punishment for heinous crimes such as murders has been a subject of intense debate all across the globe.... There are many states employing this form of punishment for crime deterrence although there is limited evidence about its effectiveness.... hellip; From this paper it is clear that death penalty is an ultimate punishment, which may provoke criminals having low motives to refrain from crimes however such crimes are usually committed under an extreme state of mind or for significant motives, therefore, fear of death can have limited effectiveness in deterrence from crimes....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Constitution and Criminal law

While crime may ffer between societies the general consensus is such: “An act or the commission of an act that is forbidden or the omission of a duty that is commanded by a public law and that makes the offender liable to punishment by that law”(Merriam-Webster 2011).... According to Hirschi an effective social bond shields a person from the temptation of criminal behavior.... criminal behavior is further encouraged by neutralization.... These techniques essentially justify criminal and antisocial behavior....
7 Pages (1750 words) Term Paper

Does Shaming Work as a Crime Control Policy

Specifically, a shaming punishment “exposes the offender to public view and heap[s] ignominy upon him in a way that other alternative sanctions to imprisonment, like fines and community service, do not” (Markel, 2001, 2155).... … Disappointed by the obvious failure of the criminal justice system to trim down offender populations at an acceptable cost, different intellectuals with distinct political objectives have suggested more cost-effective and more efficient techniques diminish numbers of prisoners and reduce recidivism....
8 Pages (2000 words) Essay

Improvements to the Correctional System

 This essay discusses improvements to the correctional system.... The main parties involved in the correctional system are inmates and prison wardens.... Correction systems can enhance professionalism by adopting effective training programs and procedures in collection facilities.... nbsp;… raining will promote the behaviors and skills of inmates, recruits, and prison wardens....
4 Pages (1000 words) Assignment

The Law and Punishment in 1800s

The essay "The law and punishment in 1800s" describes the Bloody Code, the law acted against the poor who could not even afford their daily meals.... The clergy benefited ministers accused of criminal capital offences.... It is stated that the black code law punishment given by wealthy upper social class judges created terror among the poor citizen in England in 1800.... From this research it is clear that this law prescribed a stern punishment for any of the perpetrators creating a climate of terror to poor people who planned to commit crime....
12 Pages (3000 words) Essay

Aristotelian Rhetoric: The Debate over Capital Punishment

"Aristotelian Rhetoric: The Debate over Capital punishment" paper seeks to undertake an Aristotelian rhetorical analysis on McAdams's article “Wisconsin should have the death penalty” (2006) and in doing so the paper brings out the rhetorical strategies employed by the author in the article....
7 Pages (1750 words) Coursework

Should All Murderers Be Imprisoned Lifelong or Executed

However, notions like social justice and equilibrium are dependent on a system of adequate punishment for evil done against members of a social cooperation.... Deeper analyses of these show appropriate punishment is indeed necessary to deter further homicide and safeguard the rights of people.... Death Penalty, Capital punishment or the Death Sentence, is essentially the punishment of criminals by taking their lives, i.... This paper “Should All Murderers Be Imprisoned Lifelong or Executed” presents the overview of an actual dispute - what preventive measure the law enforcement officers need to choose for incorrigible criminals - life imprisonment or execution and how to make the last one more humane....
8 Pages (2000 words) Coursework
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us