Kiaira Haynes
Assignment #1
Bashir Folsom deserves his punishment in every single way. This 17 year old boy decided to do the unthinkable and steals from one of his classmates with his friends while pulling a gun at the victim. He was from a good family with morals and respect but those morals didn’t stick to Bashir if he found it okay to not only steal from another person, but to also threaten them with a gun. He knew what he was doing was wrong but he didn’t care. He did it anyways for his own self gain and gratification. He enjoyed do this crime to prove to his friends that he is bad just like them. But in all reality, he is evil just like them.
According to Sigel’s perspective of crime control, Bashir’s involvement in this violent crime should have got him a longer sentence, way more than 3 years. To prevent more crimes like this, we must set an example and apprehend, try, and punish people like Bashir in jail to teach them a lesson and make sure they will never dare to commit a crime again. Bashir knew drinking three oversized beers and smoking weed was wrong and illegal. Bashir knew calling that boy again to meet up with him to rob him was wrong. Bashir knew plotting to steal the victim’s weed, hat, bike and $60 with his friends was wrong. He definitely knew being present at a robbery with a gun with alcohol and drugs in his system was wrong. But he definitely didn’t care because he only cared about himself. And those kind of people shouldn’t be walking around in our society, corrupting it in every way possible. Bashir has signs of being a psychopath. Psychopaths are known to be likeable and pleasant to cover up their true self. Bashir was well liked by everyone, being described as a ‘real sweetheart’ by a teacher and ‘a nice young man’ by his boss at Dunkin Donuts. Bashir was wearing a mask to hide his true devious nature from everyone. Bashir influence everyone to like him so that they are more pliable to manipulation later, such as his parents, who couldn’t believe their son can do such a horrible thing and worked extra hard just to put together his $2,500 bail. Psychopaths are also known to believing that they are smarter and powerful than they actually are. Bashir felt very entitled to special treatment over others because he didn’t pull out the gun or attacked the victim. Bashir thought he was going to get away with this whole crime and get youthful offender status and serve 6 months in county jail and enroll in a shock program and even get probation since it was his first offense as long as he told his probation officers that he was sorry and he wants to take responsibility for his actions. But even his probation officers saw through his lies and wasn’t buying his excuses. Lastly, psychopaths have a tendency to have a general absence of any guilt or remorse. Bashir faked his guilt and remorse to get a lesser sentence in his case against him. Psychopaths will do anything they can to get what they, including lying and manipulating people into believing that he actually had remorse for what happened. He did and said anything to his probation officer so he can get youthful offender status. But if he had so much guilt for what he done, why did he get excited and lit up talking about his plans for college like he knew he was going to get away with this and move on with his life. It was also very self-centered of him to go on talking about college plans while his conversation was about how ‘guilty’ and remorseful’ he really is. Only psychopaths can be so self-centered and change the conservation to themselves. And I’m glad his probation officer saw Bashir was too concerned that jail will mess up his education because if that was really one of his priorities, he wouldn’t be in this mess in the first place. So, Bashir should had got a longer sentence for his crime because he was fully aware of his actions and how he was wrong.
According to Sigel’s perspective of equal rights, Bashir would be sentenced the same way he was already was. Based on his present behavior during this case, Bashir would still be guilty and be seen as a delinquent who makes bad decisions. Only Bashir drank the beer and smoked the marijuana, putting alcohol and illegal drugs into his system... Only Bashir called the victim back with malevolent intentions and told him to meet up at the railroad tracks on Houston behind the old fragrance factory. Only Bashir decided to go along with the plan to rob the victim of his marijuana and his $60 with his friends. Only Bashir stood around and remained present at the scene of the crime after a gun was pulled out. All these decisions were made by Bashir and Bashir only. Nobody forced him to do anything. He could had simply walked away and went home. He could had even talked his friends out of it but he didn’t. He decided to stay and be involved in this crime. He decided to be part of the problem instead of the solution. And this is why he is in this situation in the first place. He had a clean record before this crime but based on his present behavior in this crime, he deserves the sentencing he got. According to Siegel’s perspective of truth in sentencing, Bashir would only do 3 years in jail. To mold the nation’s sentencing policy and guarantee every offender of a particular crime receives equal punishment, it require that offenders serve at least 85 percent of their original sentence before being eligible for parole or other forms of early release. Bashir was sentenced 3 to 6 years in jail but he has to do at least 3 years in jail before getting any form of early release. Bashir was supposed to have 3 to 6 in jail but go into a shock program that can get him out in 6 to 9 months. So the judge was very lenient with Bashir but after he pleads guilty to 3rd degree robbery, which is a violent felony, he couldn’t get youthful defender status because he got convicted of a violent crime even though it stops until you are 21. So because of his actions that day, he was stuck with his sentencing of 3 to 6 years at a maximum security prison full of very violent felonies such as himself.