Intermediate sanctions
o Enormous cost of imprisonment
o Other reasons:
Imprisonment is too restrictive for many offenders
Traditional probation does not work with most offenders
Society benefits from choices that fall between probation and prison
Unnecessary imprisonment
Most sanctions in Western democracies do not involve imprisonment
� For every offender in prison, 3 are on probation or parole
� Because sanctions that do not involve prison are a worldwide phenomenon, it makes little sense to think of them as a lack of punishment
Prison not effective in most cases
Public sentiment is shifting away from imprisonment
Limits of probation
Probation may not work with serious offenders
Intermediate sanctions can improve supervision in 2 ways:
� Intensify supervision
� Provide specialized programs better suited to address the offender's needs
Improving justice
Limited sentencing choices
When an offender breaks probation or parole rules, a response is needed to maintain the credibility of the rules
Intermediate sanctions allow a closer tailoring of the punishment to the offender's situation
Each offender is different and intermediate sanctions provide the greatest justice for many
Continuum of sanctions
A range of correctional management strategies based on the degree of intrusiveness and control over the offender along which an offender is moved according to his or her response to correctional programs
Probation, fines, boot camps, and jail are some of the many sanctions available along this spectrum
Advantages
Increases correctional system's flexibility
Decreases prison and jail overcrowding by moving selected offenders to less restrictive options
Allows more responsive management of individual offenders
If a person is not reporting, a brief home confinement can be followed by a return to probation
Costs less than other alternatives
Selecting offenders
Stakes:
� The potential losses to victims and to the system if offenders fail; stakes include injury from violent crimes and public pressure resulting from negative publicity
� With some offenders the stakes of committing additional crimes are too high to select for intermediate sanctions
Net widening
o Bring more people under control of the criminal justice system than necessary
o Pretrial Diversion does bring people under control of criminal justice system
Net strengthening
o Where you exert a greater level of control over an individual than necessary
o Big issues for intermediate sanctions
Net weakening
o Take someone who deserves to go to jail, but you allow them to stay in the community
Day fines
o A criminal penalty on the amount of income an offender earns in a day's work
Forfeiture
o Government seizure of property and other assets derived from or used in criminal activity
Community service
� Compensation for injury to society by the performance of service in the community
Restitution
� Compensation for financial, physical, or emotional loss caused by an offender, in the form of either payment of money to the victim or to a public fund for crime victims, as stipulated by the court
Day reporting center
Day reporting (treatment) centers:
Probation center:
o Residential facility where persistent probation violators are sent for short periods
Restitution center:
o Facility where probationers who fall behind in restitution are sent to make payments on their debt
Intensive supervision probation (ISP)
o Probation granted under conditions of strict reporting to a probation officer with a limited caseload
Home confinement
� Sentence whereby offenders serve terms of incarceration in their own homes
Electronic monitoring
Two types of electric monitoring devices exist
� Passive Monitors-- Respond only to inquires
� Active Devices-- Continuously signal where the offender is
Shock incarceration
� A short period of incarceration followed by a sentence reduction
� Controversial because it combines undesirable aspects of both prison and probation
Boot camps
� A physically rigorous, disciplined, and demanding regimen emphasizing conditioning, education, and job training. Designed for young offenders
� Most studies indicate that boot camps are not effective
Interchangeability
Principle of Interchangeability:
� The idea that different forms of intermediate sanctions can be calibrated to make them equivalent as punishments despite their differences in approach
� For example: 2 weeks of jail is seen as equivalent to 2 months of home confinement
� Punishments are described as units for the sake of interchangeability
Selecting Offenders #2
The target group:
� Intermediate sanctions have 2 general goals:
o Serve as a less costly alternative to prison
o Provide a more effective alternative to probation
� Wrong target group
� Applied to non-prison cases
� Low-risk clients
Problem of bias:
� Significant bias exists with regard to race, sex, and age of offenders
Surveillance strategies
o Deterrence minded individuals believe surveillance deters crime by
Making offenders less willing to commit a crime
Catching active criminals earlier in their recidivism
o 4 types of surveillance and control strategies
Drug controls
Electronic Controls
Human Surveillance
Programmatic controls
Control strategies
o 4 types of surveillance and control strategies
Drug controls
Electronic Controls
Human Surveillance
Programmatic controls
Community Corrections legislation
Reducing Reliance on Prison:
Local justice systems have little incentive to keep their own offenders in local corrections
Funded by state tax revenues
Centralized, state-administered punishments seem to be more expensive than local incarceration or probation
o Evaluation of Community Corrections Legislation:
Three aims
� 1. To reduce the rate and number of people sentenced to state correctional facilities
� 2. To reduce tax revenues spent on corrections by transferring both the costs and the funding to less-expensive local correctional facilities
� 3. To reduce prison populations
Recurring problems
1.) Some way must be found to overcome the seemingly immutable tendency of the CJ system to resist placing offenders in less restrictive options and to keep increasing the level of corrections
2.) Community support must increase
3.) Purpose of sanctions must be clarified
Custodial model
start of Ch. 10
Emphasizes security, discipline, and order
Assumption is that prisoners have been incarcerated for the purpose of incapacitation, deterrence or retribution
Rehabilitation model
Emphasizes the provision of treatment programs designed to reform the offender
Security and housekeeping are preconditions for rehabilitative efforts
Reintegration model
Emphasizes maintenance of the offenders ties to family and the community as a method of reform, in recognition of the fact that the offender will be returning to the community
Federal Bureau of Prisons
Created 1930
� Responsible for "the safekeeping, care, protection, instruction, and discipline of all persons charged or convicted of offenses against the U.S."
Today:
� Highly centralized:
o Director
o 6 regional directors
o Staff of nearly 39,000
o More than 215,000 prisoners
o Has network of more than 100 institutions
o Drug offender numbers steadily increased
Currently constitute about � the federal inmate population
o Nearly 55,000 federal inmates are citizens of other countries
o Bureau provides a variety of self-improvement programs including vocational education, anger management, and life skills training
o Operate 116 institutions:
5 security levels from minimum to high
1 super-max in Florence, CO
Demographics in BOP
o Majority are male
o Most are white
o Most are citizens of U.S.
o Mostly drug offenses
o Most sentences 5-20 years
State prison systems
Executive branch administers prisons
Prisons administered by a warden or superintendent
Approximately 390,000 people work in state institutions
States vary in number, size, type, and location of correctional facilities
The number of offenders in each state's system relates to a variety of factors including sentencing practices, legislation, and politics
Prison design
o A variety of prisons designs exist, including:
The Radial Design
The Telephone-Pole Design
The Courtyard Style
The Campus Style
Maximum security
Designed and organized to minimize the possibility of escapes and violence; to that end, it imposes strict limitations on the freedom of inmates and visitors
� 355 facilities in U.S. that house 38% of state inmates
� Strict routines
� Headcounts are frequent
� Structures are built to last, and tend to be older
Medium security
Designed and organized to prevent escapes and violence, but restrictions on inmates and visitors are less rigid than in maximum-security facilities
� 438 in U.S. holding 43% of state inmates
� Resemble maximum security, organized differently
� More privileges and contact with outside world
� Campus or courtyard style
� Razor-wire, guard towers remain
Minimum security
Designed and organized to permit inmates and visitors as much freedom as is consistent with the concept of incarceration
� 926 facilities housing 19% of state inmates
� Lacks guard towers and walls
� Prisoners live in dormitories or small private rooms
� More personal freedom
� Still a prison
Private prisons
Taxpayers spend billions of dollars annually on prisons:
� Inmate medical care
� Feeding prisoners
� Utilities
By end of 2010, private facilities housed 128,195 inmates
Corrections Corporation of America dominates the private prison system
� Manage 60 facilities and 80,000 prisoners
Officers in private facilities usually get paid less and have less training
o A variety of ethical and legal issues exist with regard to private prisons
Difference in programming
� Work
� Education
� Counseling
Costs
Accountability
Legal Issues
HIV/AIDS
In 2010, there were 20,093 inmates with HIV or AIDS
Mentally Ill
56% of state prison inmates have history of symptoms of mental health problems
More likely to be involved in fights
More often charged with rule violations
Confinement can deepen depression, intensify delusions, or lead to mental breakdown
Some commit suicide
Long-Term Prisoners
Product of "get-tough" sentencing policies
In 2012, 159,520 prisoners were serving life sentences
� 31% with no possibility of parole
Often suffer from emotional stress
Not seen as control problems
Administrators face challenge of making life bearable for such prisoners