CCJS 342 Midterm Questions With Complete Solutions
Advantages of Prosecutorial Discretion Correct Answers
Promotes "judicial economy" (spares the court's time)
If every case went to trial, the time spent in jail awaiting trial
would become unfathomable (6% = 6 months!)
Promotes cooperation in building a case against a defendant
with co-conspirators
Advantages to Bail Correct Answers -Solves jail overcrowding
-Solves idle time: the defendant can spend that time preparing
their case
-Prevents the chance of them having a punitive experience
despite being innocent until proven guilty
-Prevents job loss, housing loss, and financial strain
-Prevents separation from family
Alternatives to Bail Correct Answers -Release on
Recognizance (ROR): Pretrial release option used when the
judge believes the defendant's ties in the community are
sufficient to guarantee the defendant's appearance in court
-Day Reporting Centers: Facility where offenders such as
pretrial releases and probation violators attend daylong
intervention and treatment sessions
-Electronic Monitoring
,-Pretrial Diversion: An alternative to adjudication in which the
defendant agrees to conditions set by the prosecutor (e.g.
counseling or rehabilitation) in exchange for withdrawal of
charges
-Surety (Canada and UK): A person who promises to a judge to
supervise an accused person while they are awaiting trial. Also
pledges bond money to the court to ensure the defendant meets
bail conditions and appears in court for trial
Amount of Cases That Go to Trial Correct Answers -3% of
Federal cases
-6% of state-level cases
Average Delay Between Arrest and Sentencing Correct
Answers Six Months
Average Duration of a Criminal Jury Trial Correct Answers
Under a week
Bail Correct Answers An amount of money, specified by a
judge, to be posted as a condition for pretrial release to ensure
the appearance of the accused in court.
Bail's Intended Solution Correct Answers -Decreases jail
overcrowding
-Decreases jail understaffing
-Decreases cost of keeping pretrial detainees in jail (jails pay
less for medical, legal, mental health expenditures and liability)
Banishment Correct Answers -Pre 1800s
, -The practice of transplanting (or banishing/casting out)
offenders from the community to another region or land, often a
penal colony
-Some offenders would be banished to hulks, which are
abandoned ships along the banks of the Thames
Bondsman Correct Answers An independent businessperson
who provides bail money for a fee, usually 10% of the total
Cesare Beccaria Correct Answers -1738-1794
-Italian scholar who applied the rationalist philosophy of the
Enlightenment to the criminal justice system
-True aim and only justification for punishment is utility
-First attempt to explain crime in secular, or worldly, terms
instead of religious terms
-Wrote the 6 principles of classical criminology
Challenges in Administering Intermediate Sanctions Correct
Answers -Sentencing Practices: It is hard to calibrate different
forms of intermediate sanctions to make them equivalent as
punishments despite their differences in approach
-Formal Administration: Correctional agencies seek out
opportunities to administer sanctions because it affords them
Advantages of Prosecutorial Discretion Correct Answers
Promotes "judicial economy" (spares the court's time)
If every case went to trial, the time spent in jail awaiting trial
would become unfathomable (6% = 6 months!)
Promotes cooperation in building a case against a defendant
with co-conspirators
Advantages to Bail Correct Answers -Solves jail overcrowding
-Solves idle time: the defendant can spend that time preparing
their case
-Prevents the chance of them having a punitive experience
despite being innocent until proven guilty
-Prevents job loss, housing loss, and financial strain
-Prevents separation from family
Alternatives to Bail Correct Answers -Release on
Recognizance (ROR): Pretrial release option used when the
judge believes the defendant's ties in the community are
sufficient to guarantee the defendant's appearance in court
-Day Reporting Centers: Facility where offenders such as
pretrial releases and probation violators attend daylong
intervention and treatment sessions
-Electronic Monitoring
,-Pretrial Diversion: An alternative to adjudication in which the
defendant agrees to conditions set by the prosecutor (e.g.
counseling or rehabilitation) in exchange for withdrawal of
charges
-Surety (Canada and UK): A person who promises to a judge to
supervise an accused person while they are awaiting trial. Also
pledges bond money to the court to ensure the defendant meets
bail conditions and appears in court for trial
Amount of Cases That Go to Trial Correct Answers -3% of
Federal cases
-6% of state-level cases
Average Delay Between Arrest and Sentencing Correct
Answers Six Months
Average Duration of a Criminal Jury Trial Correct Answers
Under a week
Bail Correct Answers An amount of money, specified by a
judge, to be posted as a condition for pretrial release to ensure
the appearance of the accused in court.
Bail's Intended Solution Correct Answers -Decreases jail
overcrowding
-Decreases jail understaffing
-Decreases cost of keeping pretrial detainees in jail (jails pay
less for medical, legal, mental health expenditures and liability)
Banishment Correct Answers -Pre 1800s
, -The practice of transplanting (or banishing/casting out)
offenders from the community to another region or land, often a
penal colony
-Some offenders would be banished to hulks, which are
abandoned ships along the banks of the Thames
Bondsman Correct Answers An independent businessperson
who provides bail money for a fee, usually 10% of the total
Cesare Beccaria Correct Answers -1738-1794
-Italian scholar who applied the rationalist philosophy of the
Enlightenment to the criminal justice system
-True aim and only justification for punishment is utility
-First attempt to explain crime in secular, or worldly, terms
instead of religious terms
-Wrote the 6 principles of classical criminology
Challenges in Administering Intermediate Sanctions Correct
Answers -Sentencing Practices: It is hard to calibrate different
forms of intermediate sanctions to make them equivalent as
punishments despite their differences in approach
-Formal Administration: Correctional agencies seek out
opportunities to administer sanctions because it affords them
