M5 What Does Money Have to Do with It

• Discuss and debate which side of the issue you most favor regarding judges being presented with potential sentencing costs before they render a sentence.

After assessing the relevance of the matter my stand is clear and I do not think judges should be presented with potential sentencing costs before they render a sentence. Some might say that presenting the judge with potential sentencing costs looks like a good aim by the state, but good aims do not always make good policy. The key fact in these circumstances is good results that is the aim at the end of the day. There are several areas that needs to be look at before attempting with such action. What purpose will these decisions serve? What is the purpose of bringing in such new development? The transparency to the system is that judges represent and they should unbiased and free to make judgements. The role of judiciary system is very delicate and they have a high task to which is to punish the wrong doers and punishment has to be within the boundary of the crime committed. There are several things that Judges do already take into account the offender's character and criminal history. Not enough space in prison cannot be an excuse to let go a criminal. The cost of a federal prisoner might be at a high range however; this can also not be an excuse to let go a criminal.

The job of the governing system is to review and pass laws and the role of judiciary is to make sure that the laws are not compromised. I am of the strong view that Forgoing imprisonment and punishment for so called small crime will not deter people from committing those small crimes. It is possible that from this action we might still see an increase in such crimes. “Cost as a factor is really no different and simply acknowledges that all decisions to incarcerate, parole or fine come with price tags attached”. (Jessica Pishko, 2014). Punishing the offender might be a strong deterrence to prevent other people from committing the crime. The real areas that needs to be look at when doing sentencing is the criminal conduct of the offender, the personal, physical and mental condition of the offender and/or if the offender was an accessory to the crime. My take is if you commit crime and is found guilty your punishment should be as per the laws hence, judges should continue to punish and sentence criminals for the crime that they committed and not to look at the cost of punishment.

Reference

Jessica Pishko , 2014. The price of sentencing people to prison retrieved from http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/7/prison-juries-incarcerationcostbenefit.html