Criminal Justice - Corrections Criminal Essay

In that regard, sentences imposed for crack cocaine are so much harsher that approximately 100 times as much powdered cocaine is required to approach the sentences imposed in connection with crack cocaine offenses. This issue is particularly relevant to the disparity inherent in mandatory sentencing and arbitrariness in sentencing, especially since dealers in powdered cocaine are much more likely higher up on the supply chain than distributors of crack cocaine (USSC, 2007).

The issues concerning provisions of the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act pertain to establishing sentences for crimes established and defined by the ACT, such as narco- terrorism, smuggling munitions or military equipment without a license for transport, mining U.S. waters, and interfering with maritime navigation equipment (USSC, 2007).

The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 requires sex offenders to register and imposes criminal penalties for failure to comply. The current federal sentencing issues authorize increasing sentences for failure to register where that failure occurs in conjunction with other relevant offenses related to the welfare of children, in particular. The sentencing issues arising in connection with counterfeit goods involves increasing sentences for violations of existing laws in relation to the relative value of the counterfeited (legitimate) goods, as well as for the use of certain specific devices designed to circumvent security devices within computerized chips intended to thwart the use of pirated gaming software (USSC, 2007). The Sentencing Project and National Association of Sentencing Advocates:

According to its homepage, the mission of the Sentencing Project is to work toward reforming unfair and ineffective criminal justice policies by promoting alternatives to incarceration that are more beneficial to society. In that regard, the Sentencing Project also seeks to minimize the unintended consequences of criminal justice policies as well (Sentencingproject.org, 2008).

The mission goals of the Sentencing Project coincides with the objectives of the National Association of Sentencing Advocates (NASA), whose main concerns are redressing the direct impact that sentencing laws have on increasing incarceration rates while actual crime levels remain constant; the degree to which the government's war on drugs penalizes those already suffering from poverty and reduced opportunity; the disparate impact that criminal sentencing policies have on minority races; the fact that 5 million Americans are disenfranchised by statutes prohibiting felons from voting even after they have satisfied their sentences imposed by courts; and the wide-ranging collateral consequences to the individual as well as to extended families of convicted criminals and their communities.

Both the Sentencing Project and the efforts of NASA seek to eliminate mandatory sentencing and guidelines that call for extended terms of incarceration for many nonviolent crimes, particularly those considered "victimless." The NASA approach, in particular, advocates a holistic concept of criminal justice administration that considers the wider effects on the community of unnecessarily harsh criminal sanctions whose long-term consequences, despite being unintended, are potentially more harmful to innocent family members and to the entire community.

References

Cullen, F.T., Eck, J.E., Lowencamp, C.T. (2002) Environmental Corrections: A New Paradigm for Effective Probation and Parole Supervision.

Lynch, M.J. (1999) Beating a Dead Horse: Is Their Any Basic Empirical Evidence for the Deterrent Effect of Imprisonment?

Schmalleger, F. (2001) Criminal Justice Today: An Introductory Text for the 21st Century. New Jersey: Prentice Hall

Sentencingproject.org

United States Sentencing Commission (2007) Guidelines; May/07. Retrieved October 29, 2008, at…