NCJ Number
82383
Date Published
1981
Length
130 pages
Annotation
A 1981 update is provided for a 1963 lecture that discussed an approach for determining the causes of crime and the implications of using trial procedures and sentencing to prevent more than to punish crime.
Abstract
The heterogeneity of criminal behaviors dictates that research into its causes narrow itself largely to the exploration of causes of particular types of criminal behavior rather than criminal behavior in general. Research, however, should examine certain phenomena that apparently exist across various types of crime, such as the lower rate of female crime compared to male crime. Trial procedures which focus on punishing the offender according to his/her moral culpability in a law violation make mens rea or the state of the defendant's mental posture immediately prior to and during the offense central in determining guilt or innocence. Such an approach diminishes attention to the consequences of the act and what might be done to prevent the defendant, if convicted, of repeating it. The preventive function of the court system, which should be the preferred orientation, is concerned first with determining if the defendant's behavior caused the offense and the undesirable consequences flowing from it and secondly with deciding the sentence most appropriate for treatment that will prevent the offender from repeating the offense. The mental state of the offender becomes relevant only in the stage of deciding the sentence best suited to prevent recidivism by the particular offender. Indeterminate sentencing with safeguards is implied in such an approach. Scientific research into the effects of various sentences on particular types of offenders is central for preventive sentencing. Footnotes accompany each chapter.