“If you want a small prison population, make punishment certain.

If you

want a large prison population, make punishment uncertain.”–Newt

Gingrich, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. I think that the

meaning of the quote is that unless you make set rules and punishments the

system is going to be overflowing up inmates. This quote connects to the 3 goals

of sentencing: Retribution; Deterrence; and Incapacitation. For retribution, the

justice system is putting these laws in place as justice for the victims and their

families. For deterrence, just like the quote says, providing specific examples of

punishments will consequently set the example and hopefully lover crime rates.

Finally for incapacitation, the laws and punishments are put into place in order to

protect citizens of the country. The quote is very applicable to this day because

now the goal is to have less people in jails, whether that means releasing them on

parole or not having as many convictions.