Assignment Details

When sentencing an offender, a judge must evaluate a number of variables to impose an appropriate course of punishment or treatment. Variables influence outcomes. For example, if a suspect has been previously convicted of burglary, then his or herpast criminal record is a variable that makes the punishment harsher if he or sheis convicted of burglary for a second time. In this case, the judge would consider at least two variables when sentencing the offender:

• Convicted of a new felony crime (burglary)
• Convicted of a past felony crime (burglary)

• In 4-6 paragraphs, address the following:
  • What are 5 variables that areevaluated by judicial authorities to sentence offenders?
  • Which variable do you feel is the most important for correctly sentencing offenders? Explain.
  • Which variable do you feel is the least important for correctly sentencing offenders? Explain.
  • Are there any variables that you do not feel should be used when sentencing offenders? Why or why not?
• Post a new topic to the Discussion Board that contains your responses pertaining to the above information.