Is There a Leniency in Prison Terms for Jumping into One Offense After Another - Essay Example

On 12th October 2010, the arraignment of the accused was held. A postponement was filed and approved by the court. (Reason for continuance?) The accused was released on bail. (How much bail was set?)

                 On 26th October 2010 the accused was arrested again and jailed on several charges, namely:  Grand Larceny on the 2nd and 8th of June, breaking and entering with the intent on the 8th of June, credit card theft on the 22nd of January and receipt of stolen property on 18th June.  A pre-sentence report was ordered on 12th November. Evidence for the preceding charges was submitted on 14th December and a true bill was issued by the Grand Jury.

                 A review of all the charges and the case was made on 21st December and a trial was scheduled for 22nd February 2011. The case was postponed again and set for 28th March. The judicial body deciding on the case was the County Circuit Court Criminal Division. The accused was facing 30 years for 7 counts of grand larceny, 2 counts of receipt of stolen property, 1 count of credit card theft, and 1 count of breaking and entering with intent to commit other misdemeanors. On top of this, the accused was already serving probation for driving under influence.

                 The accused was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $29,328.15. Due to the number of evidence and witnesses, the accused pleaded guilty. Consequently, the sentence was reduced to 2 years and 8 months with supervised probation for 5 years succeeding release from prison. Because the accused had committed the same crime several times, it is the victims’ opinion that the offender did not deserve the plea bargain and subsequent reduction in a prison term.

Although I do not share the victims’ feelings of unfairness, I found a couple of things surprising. First is the offer for a plea bargain. The accused committed seven (7) similar offenses in a span of six (6) months. Obviously, any feeling of remorse is doubtful as he seems to jump into one offense after another. Leniency in prison terms does not seem to be appropriate.

Secondly, I wonder about the chronological aspect of the arrests made. The first arrest was made for offenses on 15th March, 18th June, and 28th June. The second arrest was for offenses of earlier dates – 22nd January, 2nd June, and 8th June. It would seem that the prosecution had not been thorough in its investigation.