CJ Final Exam Describe the Essay

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For example, juries must be informed of mitigating circumstances such as the offender's mental health status, before they can recommend the death penalty. Other mitigating circumstances might be crimes of passion in cases where the offender killed after years of abuse or torture. While these circumstances do not excuse the crime, they may reduce the severity of the final punishment. The same is true of aggravating circumstances. Another writer notes that this places the jury in a moral dilemma. He writes, "It is, instead, a matter of moral judgment that has to proceed in the absence of any determinate legal standards, other than the instruction to the jurors to weigh aggravating circumstances against mitigating ones and come to their own conclusion" (Garland, 2007). They must weigh if the aggravating circumstances, such as the weapon used, or a murder in conjunction with another crime, and they must decide if the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances or vice versa. Much of this determination really depends on the crime, the offender, and the prosecution's use of the different circumstances.

Discuss the impact of the application and execution of professionalism in correctional institutions across the United States.

Professionalism is key in correctional institutions across the United States in order to keep the public perception of the correctional process positive, and to provide a positive environment for as many of the inmates as possible.
In prison scandals like the Abu Ghraib scandal in Iraq, the public gains a very negative outlook on corrections in general, and they seem to want to believe that abuses can and do occur on a regular basis. By instilling professionalism in correctional institutions, these situations can be avoided, and gradually a more positive outlook begins to develop from the outside in. The application and execution of a professionalism campaign also trickles down to the inmates, who often adopt a professionalism plan of their own that integrates with the administration plan. Lack of professionalism can lead to inmate unrest, too, as in the case of a Wyoming State Prison (WSP). Two authors note, "Before a follow-up study was conducted, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit on behalf of an inmate, who had alleged that 'the policies, practices, and customs of the [WSP and WDOC] officials placed inmates at the risk of unprovoked assault, bodily injury and death at the hands of other inmates'" (Hubbell & Abbott, 2006). After implementing a professionalism plan, which included training, input, and reorganization, the problems stopped and the entire prison population was much more satisfied, including the inmates and their guards......

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https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/cj-final-exam-describe-22531