| allocution | The right of a convicted offender to address the court personally prior to the imposition of sentence.
|
 |
|
|
| appeal | A complaint to a superior court of an injustice done or an error committed by a lower court, whose judgment or decision the higher tribunal is called upon to correct or reverse.
|
|
|
|
| Coker v. Georgia | The Supreme Court ruling that a sentence of death for the crime of rape is an excessive and disproportionate penalty forbidden by the Eighth Amendment.
|
|
|
|
| definite sentence | A sentence of incarceration having a fixed period of time with no reduction by parole.
|
|
|
|
| determinate sentence | A sentence of incarceration for a fixed period of time but with possible reduction by parole.
|
|
|
|
| deterrence | A sentencing philosophy seeking to prevent criminal acts by making an example of persons convicted of crimes.
|
|
|
|
| Furman v. Georgia | The Supreme Court ruling that statutes which leave arbitrary and discriminatory discretion to juries in imposing death sentences are in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
|
|
|
|
| Gregg v. Georgia | The Supreme Court ruling that (1) the death penalty is not, in itself, cruel and unusual punishment; and (2) a two-part proceeding—one for the determination of innocence or guilt and the other for determining the sentence—is constitutional and meets the objections noted in Furman v. Georgia.
|
|
|
|
| incapacitation | A sentencing philosophy seeking to remove the offender from society.
|
|
|
|
| indeterminate sentence | A sentence of incarceration having a fixed minimum and a fixed maximum term of confinement, rather than a definite period.
|
|
|
|
| intermittent sentence | A sentence to periods of confinement interrupted by periods of freedom.
|
|
|
|
| Lockhart v. McCree | The Supreme Court ruling that a prosecutor's removal for cause, at the start of the guilt phase of a capital trial, of prospective jurors so opposed to the death penalty as to be unable to perform their duties at sentencing is not a violation of the Fifth Amendment.
|
|
|
|
| mandatory sentence | A statutory requirement that a certain penalty shall be set and carried out in all cases upon conviction for a specified offense or series of offenses.
|
|
|
|
| presentence investigation | An investigation into the background and character of a defendant that assists the court in determining the most appropriate sentence.
|
|
|
|
| rehabilitation | A sentencing philosophy seeking to reintegrate the offender into society.
|
|
|
|
| retribution | A sentencing philosophy seeking to create an equal or proportionate relationship between the offense and the punishment.
|
|
|
|
| separation-of-powers doctrine | The principle that power is distributed among three branches of government—the legislative, the executive, and the judicial—for the purpose of ensuring that no one person or group will make the law, interpret the law, and apply the law.
|
|
|
|
| Tison v. Arizona | The Supreme Court ruling that a "nontriggerman" who does not intend to commit murder may be executed when he or she participates in a felony that leads to murder and is found to have exhibited "reckless indifference" for human life.
|
|
|
|
| truth in sentencing | Laws that require offenders to serve a substantial portion of their sentences.
|
|
|
|
| Weems v. United States | The Supreme Court ruling that a sentence disproportionate of the offense is in violation of the Eighth Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment.
|
|
|
|
| Witherspoon v. Illinois | The Supreme Court ruling that states cannot exclude from juries in capital cases all persons opposed to the death penalty.
|
|
|
|
| vengeance | A sentencing philosophy seeking satisfaction from knowing or seeing that offenders are punished.
|
|
|
|
| victim impact evidence | A statement of the harm suffered by the victim or the victim's family as a result of the offender's action.
|