“Longer and harsher prison sentences help reduce crime and protect the community”

“Longer and harsher prison sentences help reduce crime and protect the community”. This statement has been made by a wide range of politicians in Australia, especially around election times.

Longer and harsher prison sentences help reduce crime and protect the community

Your paper must be typed in size 12 Arial or Times New Roman font.
Please use 1.5 spacing.
You do not need a coversheet for this assessment item.
Further, you must use Harvard in-text referencing style.
Please submit a Word Document (not PDF or RTF) so that tutors can use in-text comments if necessary.
Instructions: You should refer to the rubric BEFORE and DURING your completion of the assessment.

Your submission should be uploaded below as a Word document to the section labelled ‘Submission: Essay’. This submission will be passed through Turnitin and generate an originality report that will indicate any similarities between your work and others that have been published or submitted through Turnitin previously. If you would like to view your originality report and make changes you must submit your essay more than 24 hours BEFORE the final due date and time. Please post any general questions you have about the essay in the forum labelled ‘Assignment 6 Questions’ below.

Essay Task:

“Longer and harsher prison sentences help reduce crime and protect the community”.

This statement has been made by a wide range of politicians in Australia, especially around election times. This is also a statement reflect in much media reporting on crime and justice. Your task for this essay is to consider if this statement is true or false, with reference to a particular case. You will answer the question by drawing on established sentencing aims discussed in this unit, and support your argument with reference to relevant academic research and also literature.

Below are step by step instructions about how to approach this essay task:

1. Pick your case.

Watch the videos from You be the Judge (Victoria): https://virtualjudge.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au

and You Be The Judge Queensland: https://www.sentencingcouncil.qld.gov.au/judgeforyourself/home

Pick any one of these that you find interesting to write about. At the start of your essay, clearly state which case you have chosen. You don’t need to provide further details about the case, your tutor will have watched them too and know their content.

Watch the full video, make sure you listen to all options and comments.

2. For your chosen case, consider the five aims of punishment specific in Victoria’s Sentencing Act:

 –       Just punishment

–       Specific and General Deterrence

–       Rehabilitation

–       Denunciation

–       To protect the community from the offender

3. Discuss in your essay:

How does this sentence meet/fulfill these particular aims?

Do some of these aims conflict? How/why?

Which aim(s) should take precedence, e.g. which aims would you argue are more important in this particular case?

Is there another way/alternative sentence to respond to the offence that could achieve this?

Critically discuss whether a longer and harsher sentence would have been more effective in achieving these purposes of sentencing. Additionally, support your answer with reference to available research and literature.

For this essay, we expect a minimum of 12 scholarly references. Please note, 8 of these references have to be independently sources, i.e. that they do not form part of the prescribed reading list.

Please see separate Essay Guide for further information about format, links to library support, submissions and so on.