The stages of a criminal trial - Essay Example

The Sentencing Stage of a Criminal Trial Stages of a Criminal Trial: Sentencing A person who is found guilty or pleads guilty in a court of law faces sentencing. A judge determines the appropriate punishment from the guilty depending on the intensity or nature of the crime. Maximum sentences are usually states in the statutes which illegalize a criminal act. The sentencing stage comes after the trial stage and is before the appeal stage (Larry, 2010). If a defendant is guilty of a felony and is facing substantial prison time, the judge in the case waits until he / she hears from the defense and the prosecution.

Before the sentencing, local probation department must send the judge a pre-sentencing report. In an increasing number of states, a judge does not issue a sentence before hearing from the victim of the crimes. The Victim Impact Statements might have a considerable effect on the judgment of the case. Possible Punishments for a crime include; payment of a fine, payment of restitution to the victim, imprisonment, probation, community service or/and counseling or treatment programs. Judges do not always have discretion in sentencing.

In many states, cases such as child molestation and drunken driving have mandatory sentencing. In such cases, a judge must follow the guideline set. In other crimes, the judge has discretion in determining the sentence. For example, a judge may order the defendant to pay a fine, serve a certain jail time or both (Larry, 2010). Aggravating and Mitigating Factors These are circumstances which may have an influence on the judge’s sentence. They include cases involving repeat offenders or injured victims.

The nature of the crime, character of the offender, impact statements from a victim or an expression of remorse are also aggravating and mitigating factors. If the probation department reports one to be a constructive and an industrious person, one is likely to face lighter sentences then career criminals (Larry, 2010). Death Penalty A majority of states have special laws which determine sentencing in death penalty cases. It is more common for a jury to impose death sentence than a judge (Larry, 2010).

Therefore, a jury which convened and decided that an offender is guilty reconvenes to evaluate arguments for and against the death sentence. BTK Sentencing To conclude, the sentencing stage of Dennis Rader criminal case will be summarized, Rader, a confessed serial killer, named himself BTK which stood for ‘bind torture and kill’. Between 1974 and 1991, he killed 10 people in Sedgwick County. He claimed that he was under the control of demons and sexual fantasies when committing the murder spree which ran tor 17years.

He was sentenced in august 2005 of 10 life imprisonments. The 60-year-old killer was married. He was a church leader at Wichitas Christ Lutheran Church. In August 19, 2005, Judge Gregory Waller of Sedgwick County District Court quoted that until BTK served 40 years imprisonment, he would not be eligible for parole. This is because a minimum of one of his murders was heinous. Rader would have been sentenced to death due to the nature of his crimes. However, since the death penalty was not reinstated in Kansas before his crimes, he was not eligible to the death penalty (Douglas, 2007).

Reference Douglas, E. (2007). Inside the Mind of BTK: The True Story Behind Thirty Years of Hunting for the Wichita Serial Killer. New York: Jossey Bass Wiley. Print. Larry J. (2010). Essentials of Criminal Justice. Boston: Wadsworth Publishing. Print.