Criminal Offenses

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commonly accepted community’s practices and evolves gradually over time as a community’s ideas change. One of American society’s most important inheritances from the common law tradition is the institution of the jury. Serving on a jury is the defining act of citizenship. It is just about the only thing every citizen must do.

3. Stories of judges releasing hardened criminals with little more than a slap on the wrist resulted in a growing number of states moving toward determinate sentencing. Truth in sentencing laws was passed. These restricted a judge’s ability to set penalties and curtailed a parole board’s freedom to release prisoners early. Some states went even further. Fourteen states abolished discretionary parole and parole boards altogether. The increased reliance on incarceration had a big effect on state budgets. More than one in every one hundred U.S. Adults were under lock and key. States now spend an average of 7 percent of total general revenue ...

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