Crime Classification Manual Part I Chapter 4 5
Crime
Classification Manual Part I Chapter 4 5
A
STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES
SECOND
EDITION
John E. Douglas,
Ann W. Burgess, Allen G. Burgess, and Robert K. Ressler, Editors
While
American justice and law enforcement are closely scrutinized for their
imperfections and criticized for them, their openness to growth and evolution
is the embodiment of justice. The utility of and need for punishment carves out
a coexistence with compassion and rehabilitative goals.
Numerous
factors diminish punishment, or the severity of sentencing, in American courts.
An offender’s previous history, social disadvantage, presence of mental illness
or possibility of coinciding intoxication, lesser role in a crime, stature in the
community, and negative impact of the punishment on others are examples of
qualities that mitigate punishment. When these fac- tors distinguish an individual,
American courts may choose to mete out a less severe sentence to a convicted
offender. Mitigating factors primarily relate to context, such as who the
offender is and why the crime was committed.

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