Courts are tasked with giving sentences to people who have been convicted of crimes. The actual task of passing judgment is for the court administrators who include prosecutors and judges. Alternatives exist when it comes to passing sentences, and it is the duty of the administrators to pass the best-fit punishment.
For a court official to pass a proper sentence for a convict there is the need to listen to all the involved parties. With an understanding of the parties, chances for biasness will be minimized since information will be taken from all those affected by an action (Iannone, 2014). An example is that if a person is reported having stolen a phone, there is the need to involve the owner and the convicted person to know their stories and do an evaluation to determine the person talking the truth.
There is the need to check in the previous sentences for a crime, and with this, the judge can understand the magnitude of the sentences given for similar offense. The extent of a crime should be considered before giving a sentence. Petty crimes should be given a lesser punishment compared to major crimes such as those involving drug that can be punished by death (Parry, 2007). The history of the convicted person is essential when a court administrator is passing judgment. An individual who has been reported multiple times to having committed crimes should face a severe sentence compared to a first-time law breaker unless the offense is of high magnitude.
It is the duty of court administrators to pass judgments, and in their role, they should ensure they pass the right judgment. In addition, there is a need to refer to how other judges have given their opinion on similar cases (White, n.d.) and with this, there will be fair sentences for all the convicts and will avoid biasness.
References
Iannone, C. (2014). Passing Judgments. Acad. Quest., 27(2), 141-144. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12129-014-9428-1
Parry, J. (2007). Chinese court sentences former drug regulatory chief to death. BMJ, 334(7605), 1183-1183. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.39234.428449.db
White, R. Judgments in the Strasbourg Court: Some Reflections. SSRN Electronic Journal. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1435197
