Chapter 12 Community Sentences: Probation, Intermediate Sanctions and Restorative Justice

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Chapter 12Community Sentences
Probation,Intermediate Sanctions and Restorative
Justice
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Probation

• A criminal sentence mandating that an offender be
  placed and maintained in the community
• Subject to certain rules and conditions

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Probation (cont.)

• The History of Probation
• Traced back to English common law
• Judicial reprieve allows judges to suspend
  punishment so that convicted offenders could seek
  a pardon, gather new evidence, or demonstrate
  they had reformed
• Recognizance enabled convicted offender to
  remain free if they entered into a debt
  obligation with the state
• John Augustus the father of probation
• 1878 Massachusetts passed a law for paid
  probation officer

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Probation (cont.)

• Philosophy of Probation
• The average offender is not actually dangerous
• Institutionalization prohibits successful
  adjustments to behavior
• Even dangerous offenders can be rehabilitated in
  the community given the proper balance of
  supervision, treatment and control

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Probation (cont.)

• Approximately 2,000 probation agencies nationwide
• Half of the probation agencies are at the county
  or municipal government level
• Almost 30 states combine probation and parole
  supervision into a single agency
• Almost 4 million people are currently on
  probation
• Number has grown almost 2 each year since 1994

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Probation (cont.)

• Probationers are subject to a set of probation
  rules or conditions mandated by the court
• Violation of these conditions may result in
  revocation of probation requiring the original
  sentence to be served

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Probation (cont.)

• In approximately half the cases there is a direct
  sentence to probation without the threat of
  prison
• Subsequent violations will result in harsh
  punishment
• In 30 of the cases judges use a suspended
  sentence as part of probation

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Probation (cont.)

• Conditions of Probation
• Standard conditions apply to all offenders in a
  jurisdiction
• Special conditions are required on a case-by-case
  basis substance abuse treatment
• Conditions must serve to either protect society
  or rehabilitate offender
• Cannot be capricious or cruel

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Probation (cont.)

• Administration of Probation Services
• Statewide probation services
• Local probation services
• Combination
• Juvenile and adult services can be separated or
  combined

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Probation (cont.)

• Duties of Probation Officers
• Pre-sentence Investigation
• Intake
• Diagnosis
• Treatment Supervision
• Risk Classification

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Probation (cont.)

• Legal Rights of Probationers
• Entitled to fewer constitutional protections
• Some rules on self-incrimination before a
  probation officer do not apply
• Rules on search and seizure are not always the
  same
• Due process rights apply during revocation
  hearings

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Probation (cont.)

• How Successful is Probation?
• Most commonly used alternative sentence
• Less expensive than incarceration
• 30 to 40 percent fail on probation most for
  technical violations of rules
• Recidivism rate is less than those sent to prison

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Probation (cont.)

• How Successful is Probation?
• People with stable home environment and
  employment are most likely to succeed
• Those with a prior criminal history, prior
  probation, and previous incarcerations are most
  likely to fail
• Males convicted on sexual offenses appear to do
  well on probation

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Probation (cont.)

• Future of Probation
• Imposition of fees on probationers to defray
  costs
• Hotspot probation initiatives community
  supervision teams
• Organizing caseloads around geographic area
  rather than offender type

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Intermediate Sanctions

• Add additional sanctions to traditional probation
  sentences
• May include monetary fines, intensive
  supervision, house arrest, electronic monitoring,
  restitution, shock probation, etc
• Allows judges to fit punishment to the crime
  without resorting to a prison sentence

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Intermediate Sanctions (cont.)

• Believed to be cost effective alternatives to
  incarceration
• Can serve the needs of a number of offender
  groups to reduce overcrowding in jails/prisons
• Can be used as halfway back strategies for those
  who violate conditions of probation or parole

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Intermediate Sanctions (cont.)

• Fines
• Monetary punishment
• Used more often in lesser offenses or when
  financial profits were high
• Fines may discriminate against the poor
• Many fines go uncollected
• Day fines

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Intermediate Sanctions (cont.)

• Forfeiture
• Can be used in civil criminal cases
• Seizure of goods instrumentalities related to
  the commission or outcome of a criminal act
• Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization
  (RICO)
• Zero tolerance

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Intermediate Sanctions (cont.)

• Restitution
• Pay back to victims or society
• monetary restitution or community service
  restitution
• Benefits the victim, the offender, and the
  community
• Most restitution clients successfully complete
  their orders and do not recidivate

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Intermediate Sanctions (cont.)

• Shock Probation sentence in which offenders
  serve a short prison term before they begin
  probation to impress on them the pains of
  imprisonment
• Split Sentence Practice that requires convicted
  criminals to spend a portion of their sentence
  behind bars and the remainder in the community
• Disagreement over whether these two sanctions are
  helpful or harmful

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Intermediate Sanctions (cont.)

• Intensive Probation Supervision Goals
• Diversion from prison/decarceration
• Maintain control of the individual
• Facilitate reintegration into the community

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Intermediate Sanctions (cont.)

• Intensive Probation Supervision
• Rely on great degree of client contact by
  probation officer (smaller case loads)
• Criteria for use vary throughout U.S.
• Many systems use very specific conditions, e.g.
  mandatory curfew, employment, drug testing,
  community service, etc.
• Effectiveness varies failure rates appear to be
  high

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Intermediate Sanctions (cont.)

• House Arrest
• Offender required to spend extended periods of
  time in ones own home as an alternative to
  incarceration
• Little standardization throughout U.S. in how
  house arrest is administered

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Intermediate Sanctions (cont.)

• Electronic Monitoring
• Often used to ensure compliance with house arrest
• Similar recidivism to traditional systems
• Costs are lower Overcrowding is reduced
• Issues of privacy and liberty
• Compliance technologies vary

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Intermediate Sanctions (cont.)

• Residential Community Corrections
• Usually non-secure buildings
• Residents work and/or attend school during the
  day and return to the center at night
• Used to provide structured environment for
  treatment
• Many are used as day reporting centers for
  nonresidential clients

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Restorative Justice

• Policy based on restoring the damage caused by
  crime and creating a system of justice which
  includes all parties harmed by the criminal act
• Victim
• Offender
• Community
• Society

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Restorative Justice (cont.)

• All crimes bring harm to the community
• The traditional justice system does not Involve
  the community in the justice process
• Our focus on punishment, stigma, and disgrace of
  the offender prohibits us from repairing the harm
  caused by crime

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Restorative Justice (cont.)

• Restoration Programs
• Sentencing circles
• School programs to avoid expulsion
• Police programs to deal with the crime when it is
  first encountered
• Courts to divert offenders from the formal
  criminal justice process

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Restorative Justice (cont.)

• Challenges
• Entry into programs may favor whites over
  minorities
• Cultural and social differences may dictate what
  is restorative
• Lack of a common definition of restorative
• Balancing the needs of offenders with those of
  the victims