Senior Seminar Week 3 Discussion on Fairness in Sentencing

Running head: SENIOR SEMINAR WEEK 3 DISC
1
Senior Seminar Week 3 Disc
Name
Institution

SENIOR SEMINAR WEEK 3 DISC 2
Week 3 Discussion
Fairness in Sentencing
The Due Process model has added many procedures to the criminal justice system
that are designed to ensure fairness in criminal proceedings. This week's discussion will
focus on fairness in sentencing.
When deciding on an appropriate sentence, a judge must consider many factors,
including the law, the rights of the victim, and any special circumstances that might
influence the final sentence.
Analyze whether judges should be required to sentence all offenders equally for the
same crime. For instance, should a homeless person receive the same sentence for
shoplifting as a person with assets and income?
In this kind of scenario, the two offenders have committed similar crimes as both were
involved in shoplifting. When a judge decides on a case it’s presumed that a judge should
follow the provisions of the law when arriving at a sentence. The two have different
situations and backgrounds, so when a judge is determining the most appropriate sentence for
each, all these factors must be taken into consideration. The offender who is homeless should
have a lesser sentence compared to the offender with income and assets upon a judge’s
discretion (Ashworth, 2015). The homeless offender could be the sole bread winner of the
family and may be could be having many problems compared to the offender who has
income and assets. However, there should not be much difference between the two sentences
but such factors should always be considered by judges.