I just attempted "How effective are types of penalties in acheiving justice again. I just did imprisonment. So, don't mark. Just feedback.
The different types of penalties that our Australian Criminal Justice System’s key court personnel the judge imposes during sentencing are broad and the most common ones that give access to justice consist of Imprisonment, Home Detention, Probation, Suspended Sentence, Penalty Units, Parole, and Community Service. It should be noted that the ineffectiveness and effectiveness of these penalties can be assessed by their effects on the perpetrator, the victim/s and their families, and society. It should also be noted the conditions, purpose, and condition that each penalty consists of which will be discussed and negotiated in a courtroom by a judge/magistrate, jury, prosecutor and the defense. The effectiveness of these penalties can be seen with reference to cases, legislation and media reports.
Imprisonment is widely regarded as being the harshest penalty that a judge can impose on an individual brought before the law. It should be noted that the purposes of imprisonments mainly consists of deterrence; which is to prevent criminal behavior from taking place within society (particularly young offenders) and within re-offenders and to educate them that criminal behavior is unacceptable and will be thoroughly punished. It should also be noted that the Crimes Act (1900) and other legislation such as the Drug Misuse Trafficking Act (1985) restrict judges when imposing sentences for imprisonment by applying for maximum penalties. The purpose of imprisonment is to achieve incapacitation; imprisonment removes a violent offender from the grounds of society, protecting the interests of the community as well as those rights of the offender and the victim/s. A significant case where a judge can use imprisonment to remove a violent offender from the grounds of society is QLD vs. Melville (2007), who was charged and sentenced for child molestation and exploitation towards a group of youngsters specifically across borders. For an individual to be classified as harmful to the whole of society, they must be a continuous trend within their behavior. Melville was imposed by a judge sitting in a Supreme Court a custodial sentence of 20 years, held in the Men’s State Penitentiary Maximum Security Prison. Henceforth, this case illustrates the effectiveness of imprisonment in balancing the interests and rights of the community, the victim/s and the offender. Imprisonment is also viewed under tremendous scrutiny from the coverage of the media. Approximately about 70% of all sentencing and imprisonment decisions reach the media. For example, the BBC World news Australia covers all major world news across borders about decisions made in courts; particularly sentences, and imprisonment. Thus, Sunday Herald; Child Molester Put Away was an article published on the 22nd September 2007 reporting on the previously mentioned case. However, imprisonment is not always effective in achieve justice for perpetrators, victim/s and society. Imprisonment has negative effects on the life expectancy and health of an offender, and many prison in-mates don’t serve their full sentence due to these deteriorating health effects. This point can be illustrated in VIC vs. Taylor (2008), who was in for vehicular manslaughter for 10 years. After 2 years, her health deteriorated to an extremely low extent. These are the main effects of imprisonment; depression, grief, and health concerns/issues that will need discussion and question. On 22nd October 2009, the BBC published a newspaper article Imprisonment – arguably becoming too harsh?” applying social pressure to make imprisonment a bit less excruciating. Not only this, but imprisonment is extremely expensive; the daily range of inmates ranges from $2,275 to around $7,250 per day alone. That, along with cost of uniforms, beds, referrals, cells, facilities, etc cost a great deal. Approximately, the whole cost of the imprisonment system causes approximately $195,262,017. Overall, imprisonment is quite effective in achieving justice for the best interests for the perpetrator, society, victim/s and individuals. It achieves clear and deserved retribution for those who suffered at the hands of the criminal.