Prison Term Policy

Prison term Policy Recommendation Prison Term Policy Recommendation As a Criminologist Advisor to a member of State Legislature, I have been chosen to provide a prison term policy on armed robbery. Soon, the legislature will be voting on a bill that would double the maximum prison term for anyone who is convicted of armed robbery. Included is a recommendation on this policy and the reasons why the recommendations were chosen. Before I go in great details on the pros and con, I would like to define what the legal term for armed robbery is. Armed robbery is an aggravated form of robbery in which the defendant is armed with a dangerous weapon, though it is not necessary to prove that he used the weapon to effectuate the robbery. The legislature will be voting on the change in the prison term on armed robbery. There are cons and pros to this new policy. There are at least two cons if this bill is passed. First of all, if the prison term is doubled, it will cost a lot of tax money. Second of all, according to statistic, people who commit crimes have one thing in common; they think they will not get caught committing crimes. Lastly, prisons are already overcrowded due to the number of inmates who have committed minor offenses, doubling the sentence will add to this problem. On the other hand, there are at least three pros if this bill is passed. First of all, if the rate of arm robbery is reducing, the citizen will feel more secure. Second of all, if this prison term is double, it will keep the ex-convicted from committing the same crime over and over again. Lastly, if we can reduce the rate of armed robbery, we can reduce the people financial and mental lost. I would like to go in more details on the pros and cons before I recommend an action. Firstly, if this bill is passed, it will create a financial crisis for the innocent citizens. Doubling the prison term means doubling the cost of maintaining the prison’s facility. Therefore, it is required for the government to increase the percentage of tax that needed to be charge against working citizen. The extra money that needed to be spent on maintaining the prison’s facility could be use on increasing the economy or it could be spend on education purposes. Secondly, according to statistic, people who commit crimes have one thing in common; they think they will not get caught committing crimes. Therefore, it is useless to increase the prison term when it will no have effects on preventing citizens committing crimes. Lastly, people are sentence to serve minimum requirements for minor offenses, doubling the prison term on armed robbery will add to this problem. On the other side, there are pros to this change. First of all, if the rate of arm robbery is reducing, the citizen will feel more secure. When the citizens feel secure, they will trust in the law and its effectiveness. Once the people see the effectiveness of the new bill, they will less likely to plan an armed robbery. Secondly, if this prison term is double, it will keep the ex-convicts from committing the same crime over and over again. Although we cannot prevent citizens from committing a planned armed robbery, but if this bill is passing, it will decrease the crime rate produced by ex-convicts who have committed armed robbery to come back and enact the same crime, which eventually will reduce the crime rate. Lastly, being able to reduce armed robbery will help victims from losing materialistic things and mental health. According to statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in the year of 2001 robbery accounted for 29. 4 percent of violent crimes in the United States, costing victims a total of $532 million. The average loss per victim during that year was $1258. Not only will the victim suffer financially, they will also suffer mentally (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2009). Because the lives and security for citizens are more important then the outcome of tax increase, I would recommendation the legislatures to enforce the policy. The economy has a cycle. It has its ups and down and we know that financially we can afford to maintain or build new prison facilities. However, we cannot increase the security for our citizens if we cannot reduce the crime rate in the near future. Doubling the maximum prison term for anyone convicted of armed robbery will reduce the crime rate; therefore it will increase the safety for our citizens. I strongly advice you to vote for the change. Reference * No Authors. Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved July 4, 2009, https://www. fbi. gov

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