NCJ Number
118133
Editor(s)
G J Bensinger
Date Published
1989
Length
55 pages
Annotation
These presentations from the 1987 and 1988 programs sponsored by the Illinois Academy of Criminology focus on four interrelated topics reflecting the public's generally punitive attitudes toward criminals and the related criminal justice policies of the 1980's.
Abstract
Speakers included scholars, judges, a prosecutor, a public defender, a correctional administrator, and reform advocates. They discussed recent trends in United States Supreme Court decisions, sentencing policies, prison control, and the status of the death penalty in Illinois. Comments focused on the wavering and incoherence of the Supreme Court in its decisions regarding criminal procedures, the court's lack of a core vision of society, the applicability of the bail clause of the Eighth Amendment to the States, and the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule. The presentations also examined the purpose and effects of capital punishment, the use of prison lockdowns in prison control, and judicial decisions regarding the death penalty in Illinois.