Corrections Today - Chpt. 4 - Intermediate Sanctions

Intermediate Sanctions

These forms of community sentencing include probation plus a variety of add-ons that range from fines to boot camps.

Fine

A sanction that requires convicted offenders to pay a specified sum of money.

Day Fine

A fine that represents one day of income for the defendant.

Forfeiture

Involves the government seizing property that was derived from or used in criminal activity.

Civil Forfeiture

To confiscate property used in law violations and remove the illegally gained profits from violators.

Criminal Forfeiture

Following conviction, offenders must relinquish assets related to the offense.

Financial Restitution

The purpose of financial restitution are to compensate victims for their losses and to teach offenders financial responsibility.

Community Service Order

A court order that requires an offender to perform a certain number of work hours at a private nonprofit or government agency.

House Arrest

A court-imposed sentence that orders an offender to remain confined in his or her residence for the duration or remainder of the sentence.

Home Confinement Program

The federal courts use this program with both postsentence offenders and with pretrail defenders.

Electronic Monitoring (EM)

The use of electronic equipment to verify that an offender is at home or in a community correctional center during specified hours.

Global Positioning System Technology (GPS)

This has affected EM technology by the transmitter making continuous calls to a reporting station that updates the offender's location.

Drug Courts

Courts designed for nonviolent offenders with substance abuse problems who require integrated sanctions and services such as mandatory drug testing, substance abuse treatment, supervised release, and parole.

Day Reporting Center(DRC)

A facility where an offender, usually on probation, must report every day to participate in counseling, social skills training, and other rehabilitative activities.

Halfway House

Prerelease centers for inmates and intermediate sanctions for probationers, they include probation centers, restitution centers, county work-release centers, and therapeutic communities.

Residential Community Corrections Centers

Residential centers for offenders that frequently offer a last chance before an offender is sent to prison or a last chance for parole violators.

Boot Camp

A military-style facility used as an alternative to prison in order to deal with prison crowding and public demands for severe treatment.

Restorative Justice

Focuses on the welfare of victims in the aftermath of crime.

What are the benefits of intermediate sanctions?

1. Cost-saving alternative to jails and prisons.
2. Help reduce prison crowding.
3. Help serve the needs of offenders who are a lower risk of recidivism and impose little danger to society.
4. Can be used as a halfway-back strategy for probation and parole violators.
5. Help fill the void between routine probation and prison.

Identify the continuum of intermediate sanctions.

Types of intermediate sanctions include intensive supervision of probation, restitution and fines, community service orders, day reporting centers, house arrest, electronic monitoring, halfway houses, drug courts, and boot camps. These can be divided into sanctions without incarceration (fines, forfeiture, and drug courts); sanctions as part of being placed on probation (community service orders, restitution, and intensive probation); and sanctions that include incarceration (shock probation and split sentencing).

What sanctions stand alone and what do they contribute to intermediate sanctions?

Sanctions that stand alone are fines, forfeiture, drug courts, and day recording centers. They're widely used, especially drug courts and Day reporting centers. They're not as restrictive as some other sanctions, but they provide opportunities to make changes and to become more law-abiding.

What sanctions are add-ons and what do they contribute to intermediate sanctions?

Sanctions that are add-ons to probation include restitution, community service orders, intensive probation, house arrest and electronic monitoring, and residential centers. These sections are added to probation because it is felt that these offenders need more restrictions. The hope is that offenders will become responsive and will not need to be sent or returned to prison.

What sanctions include incarceration and what do they contribute to intermediate sanctions?

Sanctions that include incarceration include shock probation and split sentencing, work-release centers, and boot camps. Shock probation requires a prison sentence before being released on parole; work-release center placements usually follow a term of incarceration; and boot camps are placements for youth offenders that attempt to divert offenders before it is necessary to sentence them to prison terms.

What is the relation between restorative justice and intermediate sanctions?

The focus of restorative justice is to bring criminal and victim together to heal the wounds of violation and advocate alternative methods of incarceration.

What is the effectiveness and future of intermediate sanctions?

Reviews of sanctions are mixed, but there seems to be general agreement that they're preferable to returning offenders to prison for technical violations of probation and that some offenders, especially drug offenders, appear to profit from these programs. The future appears to be promising for the increased use of intermediate sanctions.