here's a question to ponder

I don't know if this question has been brought up before either through the discussion board or in other blogs so I think i'll give it a shot. What do you think should have to first time offenders in the criminal justice system. Should it depend on the severity of the offense? Should incarceration time ever be a consideration for first time offenders. I persoannly feel it should depend on the severity of the offense. If it is a minor offense such as a curfew violation I think a verbal repremand is sufficent But if it is a more severe offense such as assult and battery or other major criminal offense then yes other options should be on the table for the courts to consider.


Your thoughts????

criminal sentencing table

I am probably the last one to discover this but I literally was just flipping through our textbook and found something that made me go, Whoa!, I didn't know that was in there. if you look at chapter 14 specifically page 376 of our text there is a sentencing table that tshows in months the sentencing guidelines a judge must follow when looking at sentencing. the table is divided into four zone levels A-D and has 43 offense levels. Each of the 258 cells contains an upper and a lower level sentence that that judge can consult for sentencing. I don't know how informative this may be to you guys but I found it interesting.

Thoughts on Life in Prison case

I am in the process of checking out the article that was left for us about life in prison for minors. As I looked through the article an interesting thought crossed my mind. If the teenagers in question are of sound mind and capable ability to committ such heinous acts such as one that is mentioned in the article shouldn't they be eligable to receive the utmost maximum sentence for their crimes. Many people will argue that juveniles are just young and foolish and will hopefuly learn from their mistakes, the question I pose is...... How many "mistakes" should we allow juveniles to make before they are held responsible for their actions. Though many people may consider it animalistic to incarcerate them at a young age I have to wonder if they have already made that leap based on their judgment or lack their of in cases such as this.

Bullying then vs. Bullying now

A question was posed in my blog about the differences between what causes bullying now as to what I bleive caused bullying back then. I would now like to address those issues.

I think bullying now has increased due to the changes we have seen with the development of life and technology that has become avaliable to the young children of today as compared to the youngsters of yesteryear.


Youngsters today have more of a freeer opportunity a freer world than our parents had back then. Youngsters today have more peer pressure that is seen in their everyday lives then anything our parents faced back when they were young.

Todays' advancement in clothing styles, lifestyles and technology have made it even tougher to be a teenager today than a teenager of yesteryear.