Armed Robbery Prison Term Review

Solution Preview

Dear Student,
Hello. The solution below should get you started. This solution is based on general information so if you want to make your final paper course specific, may I advise that you review your current materials and quote or cite from it to emphasize points. Good luck and thank you for using Brainmass.

Sincerely,
OTA 105878/Xenia Jones
----------------------------------------------

Legislating New Laws - The case for double term conviction: Armed Robbery

According to US FBI records, armed robbery accounts for about 30% of the violent crimes committed in the United States with victims cost at a loss averaging at least $600 million per annum. Armed robbery is a crime of theft falling under the title 'larceny' due to the use of force and threat of force. Hence at times, suspects are charged with 'larceny and theft' plus 'robbery' with robbery carrying heavier punishment. Each state have their own law affecting sentencing of the guilty in the case of armed robbery. In the case of armed robbery, since there is an element of 'taking property' from the victim whether personal (robbery at gun point of a family-run convenient store) or corporate (robbery at gun point of a bank) - the threat of force terrorising victims to give in to demands of the robber, with his/her/their life/lives at risk because of certain items or property desired by the robber/robbers, being in the presence of robbers willing to use violence if necessary, the traumatic and social implications of the act of armed robbery is immense upon the victims and society in general. It is always the case, as with armed robbery (use of guns, knives and other deadly weapons) that the possibility of homicide as an escalation of the crime is committed. According to DC Criminal Defense Lawyer David Benowitz (2010), "...the essential elements of armed robbery are: 1) the taking of property of some value from someone against that person's will; 2) from that person's immediate actual possession or from their person; 3) by force or violence, putting that person in fear, or by sudden or stealthy seizure or snatching; 4) taking the property away; 5) without right to the property, and with the specific intent to steal it; 5) while armed."Consider this case (simulated as a police report, although based on several similar events) below:

Santa Barbara Police Department, State of California

Incident Report: Bank Robbery with Homicide at Amherst & Main

Incident Report Number: 08-00012
Name of Business: Bank of America
Date of Occurrence: Thursday, July 3, 2008
Time of Occurrence: between10:00 and 10:10 AM, just after opening hours
Contact Telephone: 0175587702

Description of Event:

At around 8 am Bank manager Julian Davis arrived to prepare the bank for opening. ...