1013CCJ - Assessment 3 PDF

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ASSESSMENT 3: SHORT ANSWER RESPONSES 1013CCJ: Introduction to Criminology and Criminal Justice Griffith University Student name: Georgia Power Student number: s5182933 Tutor name: Anthony Jamieson Course mode: Instructions: Respond to TWO of the following short answer questions. Type or paste your responses into the spaces provided. Refer to the assessment instructions on Learning@Griffith for further guidance.

Module 10 Short-Answer (Courts and Restorative Justice): The use of victim impact statements has produced a fiery debate among scholars and justice officials: advocates argue that the process provides important benefits for primary victims and the broader community, while critics suggest that the process introduces biases that can substantially disadvantage the offender. Weighing up these pros and cons, do you think Australian courts should use victim impact statements? Contextualize and justify your response. (250 words, +/- 10%) A victim impact statement is a presentation at a sentencing hearing, in which those most affected by a crime can verbally portray the impacts that the actions of a defendant had on them. These statements are used to allow for the court to be addressed by a victim/victims, during the process of decision making. I believe victim impact statements are an important aspect to utilise in Australian courts as they allow victims to be heard, as well as to confront the offender in a safe setting.

To begin with, victim impact statements positively impact those who are most affected by the results of a crime. To elaborate, the victims’ expression of emotions may aid in their emotional recovery. This is because, victims are able to confront their offender in a controlled setting in which they would feel safe. Another positive factor of delivering a victim impact statement is that a judge can see the negative impacts that an offender’s actions had on the life of another person and, as a result, evaluate the seriousness of the offence accordingly.

Contrastingly, victim impact statements can also have some disadvantages. An example of this disadvantage is a bias statement in which victims may exaggerate their physical and emotional injuries, resulting in the judge making an adverse decision.

Module 11 Short-Answer (Corrections): The use of imprisonment is costly and produces many ill-effects for offenders, leading to the principle that it should be used as a last resort and be reserved for the most serious offenders. Advances in risk assessment tools have introduced the hope of selective incapacitation, with proponents suggesting that we could use prison only for those offenders that are predicted to reoffend. What are the benefits and drawbacks of this approach? Should future risk be a sentencing consideration? Explain your answer. (250 words, +/- 10%) Selective incapacitation is a strategy within the corrections field in which offence types are taken into consideration when legally deciding on the imprisonment of a criminal. Selective incapacitation is performed by imprisoning only those who are predicted to reoffend or commit the most serious crimes such as; homicide, rape and aggravated robbery. This approach to imprisonment has both positive and negative consequences. The benefits of implementing selective incapacitation are; reduction in tax-payers’ costs, reduction in the likelihood of inmate codes being reproduced outside of prison environment, and as some studies suggest, a decrease in criminogenic behaviour. The price to contain one prisoner within Australia for one day is approximately is $391. This figure would reduce dramatically if selective incapacitation was introduced, as only 49.3% of current prisoners have committed a serious offence. Adding to this, it is understood that prisoners develop an inmate code, with these codes often continued outside of prison. An example of this is ‘snitches get stitches’. Therefore, if less prisoners were to be incarcerated, the resulting violence from inmate codes would most likely decrease. In addition, experts believe that prison is criminogenic (prison exacerbates crime). This can be seen by Australian recidivism rates of 66% of inmates having been in prison before. The approach of selective incapacitation has many benefits, but also drawbacks. One is that some minor offenders feel they will not face consequences for illegal actions. This may develop spikes in criminal activity such as drug and traffic offences, and it is likely the public would feel unsafe when aware that selective incapacitation has been implemented, causing outrage toward authoritative figures. I believe that selective incapacitation should be slowly implemented into prisons, with consideration of criminals re-offending when determining their sentencing....