Offender A is a 20-year-old white male who is a senior business management major at Clayton State University. He is currently completing an internship with a prominent financial investment firm and has been accepted to the Harvard graduate school of business where he plans to earn a Master's of Business Administration (MBA). Throughout his college career, he has been an active member of his fraternity volunteering several times to help those in need including the poor, abused children, and the elderly. He has also held a part-time job as a banker. Finally, offender A has maintained an academic scholarship during this college tenure. In fact, his grade point average (GPA) has been 3.70 or higher. Recently, offender A was convicted of 2nd degree aggravated assault (2nd degree indicates a serious offense that caused physical harm) stemming from a bar fight. Eyewitnesses maintain that offender A severely beat and kicked a victim. Indeed, the victim suffered broken ribs, a broken nose, five stitches to heal a cut on his face, and a three day stay in the hospital. The offender contends he was helping a fellow fraternity brother who as being harassed by members of a rival fraternity. During the trial it was revealed that offender A had a prior conviction for shoplifting ($50 worth of clothing) and a driving under the influence (DUI) when he was 18 years old.

Scenario 2: OFFENDER B Offender B is a 21-year-old Hispanic male who is an acknowledged gang member. He is currently unemployed and over the past five years has not held a job longer than eight months. Most of the jobs he finds are temporary positions in part because he does not have a high school diploma. By his own admission, the offender dropped out of school because he had difficulty understanding and speaking English and believes the lack of education coupled with language barriers have prevented him from finding a permanent, stable job. Recently, offender B was convicted of 2nd degree aggravated assault for pistol whipping and threatening a victim with a handgun. The offender slapped the victim several times with the barrel of the gun leaving one minor bruise on the victim's face. The offender contends that the victim sexually harassed his sister. Offender B maintains that his cultural norms require men to protect their family and loved ones and he was simply fulfilling his cultural duties. The offender has no prior convictions but has been arrested four times for various charges including vandalism, loitering, motor vehicle theft, and drug distribution. However, none of the arrests have resulted in a conviction primarily because of a lack of physical evidence or eyewitness testimony.

QUESTION 1: INDETERMINATE SENTENCING STRUCTURE Assume you are a judge in a jurisdiction that uses an indeterminate sentencing structure. Both offender A & B have been found guilty of 2nd degree aggravated assault which carries a sentence range of 2 to 8 years. For this question, please answer the following: o For both offender A and offender B, please explain what sentence range would you impose? o Be sure to discuss what (a) aggravating (increase punishment) and (b) mitigating (decrease punishment) factors would influence your sentencing decisions o Offer an assessment of your decisions o Did you impose the same sentence for both defendants? If not, explain why? o Discuss whether legal (criminal history, nature of the crime, harm to victim) or extralegal factors (education, employment status, race) seemed most influential in your decision. 

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In an indeterminate sentencing structure sentencing decisions are often influenced by various factor... View the full answer