NCJ Number
69916
Date Published
1978
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This report summarizes the Arkansas laws that describe criminal offenses which can result from a mugging, examines statutes which enhance or reduce the penalties for mugging, and explores mandatory minimum sentences for such offenses.
Abstract
Violent crimes committed against the elderly are charted as they appear in the Arkansas Criminal Code (as the code contain no separate offense for mugging), with descriptions of the elements of the offenses and of the punishments possible for such crimes. The crimes listed are robbery; aggravated robbery; aggravated assault; first, second, and third degree assault; terroristic threatening; first, second, and third degree battery; and adult abuse. Variations in the sentences for homicides, offenders with previous convictions, juvenile offenders, and felons are discussed. Parole and probation provisions are mentioned. The mandatory minimum penalties that Congress and States such as Masachusetts, Oklahoma, New York, and Maine have enacted for certain offenses are considered, with attention to those minimum sentences struck down by courts as unduly severe. Sixteen footnotes are included. Appendixes present (1) California and Connecticut statutes which impose mandatory minimum sentences for crimes committed against the elderly and (2) proposed legislation in Congress and the New York general assembly which would impose mandatory minimum sentences for crimes against the elderly.