Sentencing juveniles to life in prison without parol

In this article, the author Jeffrey Shook discusses how the tough laws on juveniles in the 80's and 90's increased the number in juveniles in adult prisons with harsh sentences like life without parole. Shook discusses how these new laws made it so juveniles will attend adult court and be sentenced like adults which takes the power out of the judges hands to decide the minors sentence. The prosecutors get to decide instead and most juveniles are sentenced to adult prison because of this.

Author: Jeffery Cook
Article: sentencing juveniles to life in prison without parole
Source: Handbook of Juvenile Forensic Psychology and Psychiatry
Publisher: springer
2012 pg 93-104

Sentencing of teen girl fuels debate of youths in prison

In this article the author Ashley Broughton discussed how during the 1990's there was a nation wide increase of gang activity with the youth of America. Many states passed laws to get more tough with the youth by sending them to adult court. Utah passed its serious youth offender act in 1995. From 1985 to 1998 the juveniles in adult prison had doubled because of this act. Broughton then goes onto discuss how two 15 year old girl Melinda Chasteen and Jessica Grundie were accused of trying to kill a female gourd at the juvenile detention facility in Utah. The girls are also charged for planning on killing several other guards and stealing items to escape and help other juveniles escape. Chasteen was sentenced to prison while at the time the article was written, 2003, Grundie had not been sentenced yet. This started a huge debate about whether these girls should still be in a juvenile detention facility or prison. Many believe that it is wrong to sentence minors like adults but there are also those whom believe that sentencing juveniles like adults or serious crimes are justified.

Article: Sentencing of Teen Girl Debate of Youths in Prison
Author: Ashley Broughton
Source: Salt Lake Tribune Oct 14, 2003

An Examination of the Interactions of Race and Gender on Sentencing Decisions Using a Trichotomous Dependent Variable

In this article the author Tina Freiburger discusses how many different men and women don't "have the experiences in the court room"(Freisburger63). What does she mean by this? As her article goes on she reveals the answer and this is in many court rooms there are race and gender biases.Based on already done research  Freisburger came to find the young minorities (Black and Hispanic men) are more likely to be incarcerated into the prison system while young white men are more likely to get probation. She then found that women in general get lesser sentencing than men men so they would get probation over jail time but the minority effect still applied to women so minority women still got more serious sentences. Freisburger then did a study of her own where she looked at over 2000 cases from a county in Michigan. Hispanics were taken out of the study because there wasn't a large enough sample. She still found similar results that had to do with race and gender. She found that African American men were way more likely to get jail time while white men were more likely to receive probation. She also found that women were still more likely to receive probation as well. Toward the end of the article Freiburger looked at how incarceration terms to prison and jail sentences impacted prisin sentences more. She concluded that jail and prison sentences need to be decided separately.

Title: An Examination of the Interactions of Race and Gender on Sentencing Decisions Using a Trichotomous Dependent Variable. 
Author: Tina Freiburger
Source:  Crime & Delinquency. Feb2013, Vol. 59 Issue 1, p59-86. 28p.

Equal justice initiative

The equal justice initiative is a company dedicated to making sure people are sentenced fairly. They deal with many controversial topics like child sentencing, the death sentence, and sentencing reform. I thought this would be a good source to help show that there are people out there dedicated to these issues and it really shows the main problems with prison sentencings.

Source: eji.org

Questions to consider on gender sentencing

In the article I read by Fernando Rodriguez it discussed how females received lesser sentences than men. This study was conducted in Texas and my question is how many other states are the same as Texas. Is this trend in many other states? And what specific reasons give girls more of an advantage at getting lesser prison sentences than men?

Gender differences in criminal sentencing

In the article I read by Fernando Rodriguez, he discusses that females have an advantage with gender when it comes to sentencing. He talked about a study where they found that females will either get less or no prison time for smaller crimes compared to males who most likely do receive prison time. For larger crimes like murder females still receiciebed less prison time than men.

Author: Fernando Rodriguez
Source: social science quarterly vol 2 issue 6 pg 318-391

Questions to consider for youth sentencing

I just had a few questions about youth sentencing that i have and I might be able to find answered to. The first is in what cases have the courts actually sentenced youth to life in prison. The second is for those who aren't sentenced life what are the alternative sentencing. And my final question is for the states that all the death penalty is it possible for a minor to be sentenced to death?

Sentencing and prison overcrowding

In this article it discussed how in many European countries there was overcrowding in many prisons. The problem is that the criminal population is increasing and the solution as put by author Sonja Snacken is simple. The prisons need to increase capacity. Snacken gives four factors of why the prison population is increasing. First is demographic and economic evolution. The. Second is criminality is influenced by both societal changes and criminal policy changes. Attitudes, decisions, and policies at the different levels of decision making within the criminal justice system. And finally the political context of the period considered and the way in which politicians interpret and react to contradictory tendencies in public opinion.

Title: Sentencing and Prison over crowding
Author. Sonja Snacken
Source: European journal in criminal policy and research vol 2 issue 1 of 84-99

Why a jail or prison sentence is increasingly like a death sentence

In this article by Jeffery Ross he discusses why prison sentences are more like death sentences. Ross explains that there are four things that can make a prison sentence poor health care, unsanitary living, high levels of violence, and an increased number of people with chronic diseases living within a close proximity together. The author argues that in most cases this is how prison is and he strongly believes that if a prisoner doesn't get a death penalty, they will probably still die behind bars.

Article: Why a Jail or Prison Sentence is Increasingly Like a Death Sentence
Author: Jeffery Ross
Source: Contemporary Justice Review. Sep2012, Vol. 15 Issue 3, p309-321. 13p.
Contemporary Justice Review. Sep2012, Vol. 15 Issue 3, p309-321. 13p.

Sentencing youth to life in prison

In the article i read it discussed the supreme courts ruling that it is unconstitutional to sentence juveniles to death because it is considered cruel and unusual punishment. The court determined this because they believe the appropriateness of the sentencing is right since the juveniles are charged as adults. The author, Simon Singer, started noticing after the bill was passed that many juveniles received lesser juvenile punishment and Singer called this the reproduction of juvenile justice.

 Article: Sentencing Juveniles to Life in Prison: The Reproduction of Juvenile Justice for Young Adolescents Charged With Murder
Author: Simon Singer
Source: Crime & Delinquency. Nov2011, Vol. 57 Issue 6, p969-986. 18p
Peer Reviewed: yes

Prior knowledge about prison sentencings

So I can think of three big issues involving prison sentencing, they are the death sentence, sentencing children, and minor drug offenses. The death penalty is obviously controversial because it is killing another person. Many people think that if the person crimes are bad enough then they should lose their life. Others believe that it is wrong to kill others and that life in prison is just as harsh. With child sentencing many argue that children's brains are still developing and that I'd that some aren't old enough to understand their crime then they shouldn't be sentenced to prison but instead a more passive approaches like therapy. Finally with most sentencing's the person being incarcerated had a minor offense which many thing is unfair but others believe if they broke the law then it is a fair punishment. All three of these are potential final paper ideas.

Chosen research topic

I decided to do my research on prison sentencing. Some controversial topics concerning prison sentencing is the death sentence, juvenile sentencing, and minimum sentencing. I don't have a definite category picked out but my research will be done in prison sentencing

Qreasercher help for topics

Prison sentencing
Music
Gun control
Abortion
Death penalty
Euthanasia
Marijuana
China

Potential research ideas

History of music theory
How war times affect patriotism
The affect music and musicians have had on society
Unfair practices in the music industry
How legalization of cannibis can affect the economy
How religion developed in different regions