Question 1

PSI reports often contain information that is inadmissible in court. Imagine you are preparing one for a judge on a statutory rape trial. The defendant was 18 and the victim was 16. Who would you interview? What type of information would you collect? Do you think the benefits of your report outweigh the threats to judicial impartiality? Why or why not?

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Question 2

What is a PSI? What are its primary goals?

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Question 3

You are the newly elected governor of North Carolina and want to reform the structured sentencing grid in your state to reflect evolving notions of the severity of certain types of crime. In order to do so, you need to demonstrate a working knowledge of what crimes are considered most severe. Write a letter to your constituents outlining your plan and describing your changes to it.

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Question 4

Although guidelines vary greatly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, they generally establish a sentence based on the offender's prior criminal history and the _________.

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Question 5

You are the head of a local parents' organization and are in conversations with a judge who wants to impose scarlet letter conditions to punish kids who are caught joining gangs. The judge wants you to outline which of these conditions will be most effective, or whether you think scarlet letter conditions will be helpful in your community. Be sure to use facts to shore up your statement to the judge.

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Question 6

How might sentencing guidelines affect the sentencing decision of a judge?

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Question 7

Describe the reasoning behind and application of structured sentencing.

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Question 8

Refraining from use of all controlled substances except those prescribed from a licensed medical practitioner is an example of a(n) ________ condition of probation.

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Question 9

Describe the history of pretrial release. Use examples from your text.

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Question 10

You are a judge who has just received a PSI on a murder case. What parts of the PSI will determine your sentence? Why? Are there factors that are included on the PSI that you will pay no attention to? What are they, and why? Are there parts of the PSI that you will pay some attention to but not weigh as much as others? What are they, and why?

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Question 11

What are "special conditions" of probation? How are they applied? Use examples from the text in your essay.

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Question 12

The PSI is used to assist the court in determining sentences and assists correctional institutions in the __________ of inmates, institutional planning, and release planning.

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Question 13

How does society's perceptions of the severity of a particular class of crime affect sentencing decisions?

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Question 14

You are running for congress on a civil liberties platform, and you want to reform the sentencing guidelines in your state. You have to make a major speech about sentencing before a group of law enforcement officials, some of whom are suspicious of your political leanings. In your speech, discuss what type of sentencing guidelines (structured or unstructured) you think are most likely to both ensure law and order are maintained and grant equal protections under the law.

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Quiz 4: Pretrial Supervision, Sentencing, and the Presentence Investigation Report