Ethics in Criminal Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ethics in Criminal Justice - Essay ExampleThe prohibition of such punishments was influenced by the need to depict punishments more rational and less painful. In a case involving the United States and Weems in 1910, a US court ruled that sentencing the convict to 20 years chained imprisonment for giving false testimony amounted to a cruel and unusual punishment.Lionel Tate was accused and initially sentenced for killing Tiffany Eunick in cold blood, callously and indiscriminately an in a cruel manner. The court in its decision sentenced Tate to life imprisonment after considering the evidences presented before it. Even though the defendant subsequently appealed on several bases and was finally set free, the insipid could be charged for aggravated child abuse, felony murder, premeditated murder, and for giving false testimony (Findlaw.com, 2003). Tate testified to the effect that he accidentally picked Tiffany and knocked her on the table although it is clear that the injuries that the latter sustained were graver than those which could be inflicted through such an action. The defense to these charges would be to claim that Tate did not show the consequences of his actions due to mental incompetence.Tate being subjected to life imprisonment was a clear act of cruel and unusual punishment given that he was a juvenile and was supposed to be dealt with as such. Instead, he was sentenced more like a competent adult an act which was quite irrational.Alex and Derek King were charged for conspiring to murder and murdering their boost in cold blood. Apart from committing murder, the two brothers ought to be charged for committing an act of arson as they set their house ablaze after committing the first detestation (CNN, 2002). With two mutually exclusive judgments arising from the evidences given by Alex, Derek and Chavis, it is almost certain that the parties could have given false testimonies to the