Integrity of the Retributive Ideal (From Crime and Punishment: Issues in Criminal Justice, P 81-102, 1989, Fred E Baumann and Kenneth M Jensen, eds. -- See NCJ-122184)

• NCJ Number: 122189
• Author(s): J H Skolnick
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 22 pages
• Sale Source: University of Virginia Press
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Retribution as a mode of sentencing can only retain its integrity as long as ethical methods of obtaining evidence are used, by making punishment consistent and fair, and by providing prisons with humane conditions.

Abstract

Case law illustrating the need for integrity in the sentencing system is discussed. Selective incapacitation as a response to prison overcrowding is examined with the conclusion that it violates the integrity of the sentencing system because it incapacitates prisoners for self-reported past crimes or predicted future crimes. The rehabilitative ideal has been debased by indeterminate sentencing systems as well as faulty treatment and training approaches. The retributive ideal can also be debased through faulty law enforcement practices from arrest through conviction. 42 footnotes.