Intermediate Sanctions and Community Corrections

1
Intermediate Sanctions and Community Corrections
2
Overview

• What are intermediate sanctions?
• Why do we use them?
• What are the specific forms of IS?
• Who are the clients?

3
What are Intermediate Sanctions?

• Range of sanctions between prison and traditional
  probation
• Vary in intrusiveness and control
• Most served in community
• Some involve some form of detention

4
Why have intermed. sanctions?

• 1) Democratic ideals
• 2) Incarceration not effective at crime
  prevention
• 3) More supervision than traditional probation
• 4) More specialized programs
• 5) Individualized punishment
• 6) Alternative to prison for VOPs

5
Types of IS

• Vary from state to state
• Can operate at local or state level
• Can be codified as law or instituted by
  correctional authority
• Most common forms
• intensive supervision probation (ISP)
• work release
• house arrest
• electronic monitoring

6
Types of IS

• Other forms
• day fines
• asset forfeiture
• restitution
• community service
• day reporting centers
• boot camp

7
Types of IS

• Intensive supervision probation (ISP)
• Very close supervision - for high-risk offenders
• Find high rates technical violations
• Rand experiment
• Random assignment to ISP or probation
• No difference in rearrest, but way more technical
  VOPs
• Despite research findings, ISP extremely popular
  across country

8
Types of IS

• House arrest (AKA home confinement)
• Sentenced to incarceration, but serve sentence at
  home
• Usually permitted to go out for specific reasons
  (e.g. work)
• Most on house arrest genuinely diverted from
  prison
• Seems to work best w/ low-risk offenders
• Often used w/ electronic monitoring

9
Types of IS

• Electronic monitoring
• Most often used in conjunction w/ house arrest
• Offender wears electronic transmitting device
• Two types of monitors
• Passive responds only to inquiries
• Monitor calls offender, who has to put device on
  receiver next to phone
• Active sends continuous signals to receiver
• Monitor notes breaks in signal

10
Types of IS

• Fines
• Monetary penalty paid directly to court
• Possible solution day fines
• Tied to offenders ability to pay
• First decide amount of fine in standardized
  units, based on severity of crime
• e.g. How many days of freedom is it worth?
• Then decide value of standardized unit
• Usually offenders net daily income

11
Types of IS

• Forfeiture
• Government confiscates property obtained w/
  earned through criminal activity
• Can be implemented under civil or criminal law
• Civil can be seized w/o finding of guilt
• Criminal occurs after conviction
• Highly controversial, challenged in court
• USSC has restricted its use

12
Types of IS

• Restitution
• Pay victim back for losses
• Typically used as a probation add-on
• Intended to help repair damage done
• Frequently goes unpaid
• National study found only 45 of total ordered
  was repaid

13
Types of IS

• Community service
• Offender provides free labor for specified hours
  in some public service
• e.g, removing graffiti, cleaning parks
• Benefits community and offender
• Held accountable for his crime
• Avoids economic penalty and incarceration
• Some view it as too lenient

14
Types of IS

• Boot camps
• Used most commonly with juvenile offenders
• Subject offender to harsh military discipline
• Get him to shape up
• Most evaluations?
• No difference in recidivism between BC and
  traditional punishment

15
Who are the clients?

• All types of offenders
• Programs intended to target either offenders
• whod otherwise go to prison or
• who need more supervision than theyd get on
  probation
• Reality many judges reluctant to divert
  offenders from prison
• Result? Many sent to IS who actually would have
  been given probation ? no real cost saving

16
Who are the clients?

• Programs themselves also take conservative
  approach
• High-risk cases deemed ineligible
• How choose?
• Evaluate crime severity and offenders problems
• Have to weigh stakes
• What happens if offender fails?
• Costs to victims and society
• Also negative publicity for administering agency

17
Future of IS

• Fed. govt. providing to states for IS
• More than 1/2 the states have laws supporting
  comm. corrections
• Provides to counties to keep people out of
  prison --gt WHY?
• State pays for prison --gt counties have no
  incentive not to send them to prison
• Still has had limited impact on prison pop.
• Many states eliminated parole
• Mandatory sentences --gt prison sentences

18
Future of IS

• For IS to really make a dent, will have to
• overcome reluctance on part of CJS to place
  offenders in
• get communities to overcome their opposition to
  placing programs in their neighborhoods
• have programs with clearly articulated goals