Justice in America

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by James

That could have happened, or could happen, to any of us . .

No.

[Still BLUTANG]

am i the only one who thinks the parents need some sort of reprimand? No one here is innocent.

[shinerbock]

Parents are the key to most things like this.

[macallan25]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

No.

Why?

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by macallan25

Why?

The law isn't equally applied. There is no perfect judicial system that goes strictly by the sentencing guidelines with no leeway given based on extralegal factors (Max Weber would call such a perfect system "formal rational"). Instead, we still have a degree of prosecutorial and judicial discretion for most cases. This allows for extralegal factors like social class, age, gender, and race to reduce the potential for this to happen to "any of us."

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

The law isn't equally applied. There is no perfect judicial system that goes strictly by the sentencing guidelines with no leeway given based on extralegal factors (Max Weber would call such a perfect system "formal rational"). Instead, we still have a degree of prosecutorial and judicial discretion for most cases. This allows for extralegal factors like social class, age, gender, and race to reduce the potential for this to happen to "any of us."

True, and unfortunately, even when they tried sentencing guidelines, it turned out to be a failure (federal sentencing guidelines which turned out to be a mess).

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

True, and unfortunately, even when they tried sentencing guidelines, it turned out to be a failure (federal sentencing guidelines which turned out to be a mess).

Definitely. There's a ton of research on sentencing guidelines and the pros and cons of them.

hijack/
So on one hand there's a need to consider extralegal factors, for example, society doesn't want tons of primary caregivers removed from the home. On the other hand there's a tendency for these extralegal factors to be used as a bias, such as women who serve as drug mules being used as the "fall guy" for general deterrence.

Has a caveman PM'd you about your signature yet?

/hijack

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

Definitely. There's a ton of research on sentencing guidelines and the pros and cons of them.

hijack/
So on one hand there's a need to consider extralegal factors, for example, society doesn't want tons of primary caregivers removed from the home. On the other hand there's a tendency for these extralegal factors to be used as a bias, such as women who serve as drug mules being used as the "fall guy" for general deterrence.

Has a caveman PM'd you about your signature yet?

/hijack

Haha, no cavemen have PMd me, but if any took offense I would of course change my signature ASAP.

I agree, it's an interesting question, and there's research going on in all different fields about sentencing. To me, another part of it comes down to the old general/common law debate (law as written vs law as unwritten, and judges' ability to "freelance," so to speak). If you give a judge more freedom in sentencing, they can be unfair in sentencing, but if you have these guidelines, they can keep judges from devising sentences that are, well, more "just."

I'm only a 1L, so I don't know if there's some middle ground, but it's a worthy debate.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

Haha, no cavemen have PMd me, but if any took offense I would of course change my signature ASAP.

I agree, it's an interesting question, and there's research going on in all different fields about sentencing. To me, another part of it comes down to the old general/common law debate (law as written vs law as unwritten, and judges' ability to "freelance," so to speak). If you give a judge more freedom in sentencing, they can be unfair in sentencing, but if you have these guidelines, they can keep judges from devising sentences that are, well, more "just."

I'm only a 1L, so I don't know if there's some middle ground, but it's a worthy debate.

I believe there's really no middle ground, unfortunately. But I'm glad you're wrestling these types of debates as a 1L.