There are several types of punishments that are inflicted upon law offenders. Traditional sentencing options include fines, probation, imprisonment, and the death penalty. A judge may impose a penalty on the perpetrator according to the severity of the crime. For example, fines are considered to be the lightest form of sentencing as they are generally used for simple offenses, for example, traffic violations or minor drug possessions. In such instances, a convicted must pay a certain amount of money to the court. For example, a case of Brett Sanders was spotted going nine miles above the speed limit (Alexander, 2017). He was spotted by the officer while driving recklessly down the highway in Frisco, Texas. For this violation, the court gave Sanders a ticket and made him pay $212 in fines. As a form of protest, he decided to pay it in coins.
Another type of sentencing is probation when a convicted has to be supervised within the community. While being on probation, he or she must follow strict rules. In cases when the convicts violate regulations that were imposed on them, they can be sent to prison instead. As a rule, conditions of probation include restricting movements, obeying all laws, and regularly reporting to a probation officer. One of the most famous cases where the convicted was put under probation, is the case of the 16-year old Ethan Couch, who stole his father’s car drove around carelessly while being drunk. Moreover, he also stole two cases of beer from the supermarket; however, his most violent crime was accidentally running over people, killing them. Nevertheless, despite the severity of his offense, the judge sentenced him to an “open-campus state probation facility that hosts a 90-day treatment plan” (Weston, 2016, p. 231). The reason for such sentencing was the fact that the judge considered a psychologist’s testimony, where it was stated that Couch made poor choices because of his poor upbringing.
Imprisonment is the third sentencing option, which includes the restriction of a convict’s freedom. In other words, a judge gives a sentence; after that, the offender is taken to jail or prison. These two correctional facilities may seem similar; however, they are different in nature since jails are operated by counties while prisons are run by state and federal governments. There is a number of offenses for which a perpetrator can receive this type of punishment. For example, Marlon Noble was charged with sexual assault in 2001 (McGaughey et al., 2017). Even though the court realized that the man was intellectually impaired and, therefore, unable to stand trial, the jury was convinced that he has to be held in custody. For this reason, Marlon Noble was detained in prison until 2012.
The most severe sentencing option is the death penalty, or capital punishment, which is inflicted in rare cases. Generally, judges sentence offenders to the death penalty for murders with aggravating circumstances. Since the consequences of this punishment cannot be revoked, it is heavily controlled by law. The case of Timothy Lee Hurst, who murdered his co-worker, Cynthia Lee Harrison, on May 2, 1998, and put her body in the freezer, is one of the examples (Guyer, 2016). He was charged and convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death on April 26, 2000, which was later affirmed by The Florida Supreme Court.
References
Alexander, P. C. (2017). A Penny for Your Thoughts: Free Speech and Paying Fines with Coins. UALR L. Rev., 40, 389-399.
Guyer, R. (2016). Ring Around the jury: reviewing Florida’s capital sentencing framework in Hurst v. Florida. Web.
McGaughey, F., Tulich, T., & Blagg, H. (2017). UN decision on Marlon Noble case: Imprisonment of an Aboriginal man with intellectual disability found unfit to stand trial in Western Australia. Alternative Law Journal, 42(1), 67-70.
Weston, B. (2016). Balancing rehabilitation and punishment: combing juvenile court waiver mechanisms to create a balanced justice system. American Crimila Law Review, 53, 235.