Intermediate Sanctions and

Community Corrections

the arguments the arguments forfor intermediate sanctionsintermediate sanctionsthe arguments the arguments forfor intermediate sanctionsintermediate sanctions

traditional probation does not work with most offenders; they need more

but imprisonment is too much:too restrictive for many offenders

justice is best served by options between these extremes

probation prisonI

““continuum of continuum of sanctions” sanctions” ““continuum of continuum of sanctions” sanctions”

a range of correctional management strategies which vary in degrees of intrusiveness & control over an offender; the offender is moved up or down along the continuum, based on his or her response to correctional programs along the spectrum of options…

definition

continuum of sanctionscontinuum of sanctionscontinuum of sanctionscontinuum of sanctions

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

probat. int. suprv.prob.

restit./ fine comm.serv.

subst.abuse trtmt

day report. housearrest/montr.

halfwayhouse

boot camp prison &jail

least severe

most severe

annual costs of prison vs. annual costs of prison vs. intermediate sanctionsintermediate sanctionsannual costs of prison vs. annual costs of prison vs. intermediate sanctionsintermediate sanctions

$23,707

$17,794

$12,494 $12,494

$2,781 $2,759 $2,292 $2,011$869 $402

$0

$5,000

$10,000

$15,000

$20,000

$25,000

bootcamp

prison halfwayhouse

jail dayreptg

comm.serv.

ISP elect.monitor

probat. housearrest

Data are for Colorado, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia.

ann

ual

cos

t

First StepFirst StepFirst StepFirst Step

ProbationOffender reports to probation officer periodically,depending on the offense sometimes as frequentlyas several times a month or as infrequently as onceas year.

definition

Second StepSecond StepSecond StepSecond Step

Intensive Supervision Probation

Intensive supervision of probation (ISP) permits probationers to live at home but under relatively strict restrictions. ISP offenders usually are required to perform community service, work, attend school or treatment program, meet with a probation officer or a team of two officers as often as five times a week, and submit to tests for drug and alcohol use, curfews, and employment checks.

A fairly new but already widely used program, ISP seems especially useful with high-risk probationers.

Conditions For Implementing Successful ISPConditions For Implementing Successful ISPConditions For Implementing Successful ISPConditions For Implementing Successful ISP

1. The project must address a pressing local problem.

2. The project must have clearly articulated goals that reflect goals that reflect the needs and desires of the community.

3. The project must have a receptive environment in both the parent organization and the larger system.

4. The organization must have a leader who is vitally committed to the objectives, values, and implementation of the project and who can devise practical strategies to motivate and effect change.

5. The project must have a director who shares the leader s ideas and values and uses them to guide the implementation process and operation of the project.

6. Practitioners must make the project their own, rather than being coerced into it. They must participate in its development and have incentives to maintain its integrity

during the change process.

7. The project must have clear lines of authority and no ambiguity about who is in charge.

8. The change and its implementation must not be complex or sweeping.

9. The organization must have secure administration, low staff turnover, and plentiful resources

Third StepThird StepThird StepThird Step

Restitution and Fees

Used alone or in conjunction with probation orintensive supervision and requires regular payments to crime victims or to the courts.

Financial RestitutionFinancial RestitutionFinancial RestitutionFinancial Restitution Financial restitution is payment of a sum of money by the offender

either to the victim or to a public fund for victims of crime. The amount is usually based on the crime and, in some instances, on the offender’s ability to pay.

The purposes of financial restitution are to compensate victims for their losses and to teach offenders financial responsibility. Offenders who do not have the resources to make their restitutionpayments may be confined to a correctional facility at night while they are employed elsewhere during the day to earn money for their payments.

Day FinesDay FinesDay FinesDay Fines

Day fines, which are used more frequently in Europe than in the United States, are fines that approximate an offender’s daily wages.

The purpose of the day fine is to equalize the financial impact of sentences on offenders. Day fines address the concern that fines are unduly harsh on poor offenders but permit affluent offenders to buy their way out of more punitive sanctions

““day fine”day fine”““day fine”day fine”

a financial criminal penalty based on the amount of income an offender earns in a day’s work; in effect, offender is

sentenced to a specified number of days’ worth of income, irrespective of his or her individual income level

X days ofincome

definition

Third StepThird StepThird StepThird Step

Community ServiceUsed alone or in conjunction with probation orintensive supervision and requires completion ofhours of work in and for the community.

Community ServiceCommunity ServiceCommunity ServiceCommunity Service

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

Two general patterns have emerged for structuring community obligations:

(1) referring offenders to community agencies that handle the work placement and supervise completion of the community service obligation and

(2) assigning a group of offenders to provide a community service. The number of hours of community service to be completed is generally determined by the court or sometimes by program staff.

Commonly assigned public service projects include cleanup work on the local streets or in city parks, volunteer service in hospitals or in nursing homes, and repair jobs in rundown housing.

ForfeitureForfeitureForfeitureForfeiture Forfeiture involves the government’s seizing property

that was derived from or used in criminal activity. In civil law, property used in criminal activity can be seized without a finding of guilt.

Under criminal law, forfeiture takes place following conviction and requires that offenders relinquish assets related to the crime. In the 1990s, state and federal law enforcement officers confiscated an estimated $1 billion worth of assets from drug dealers

Fourth StepFourth StepFourth StepFourth Step

Substance Abuse Treatment

Evaluation and referral services provided byprivate outside agencies and used alone or in conjunction with either simple probation or intensive supervision.

Drug CourtDrug CourtDrug CourtDrug Court

Drug courts are designed for nonviolent offenders with substance abuse problems who require integrated sanctions and services including

(1) mandatory periodic testing for the use of controlled substances;

(2) substance abuse treatment;

(3) diversion, probation, or other supervised release; and

(4) aftercare services such as relapse prevention, health care, education, vocational training, job placement, housing placement, and child care.

Fifth StepFifth StepFifth StepFifth Step

Day Reporting

Clients report to a central location every day, where they file daily schedules with their supervision officer showing how each hour will be spent—at work, in class, at support group meetings, etc.

Day ReportingDay ReportingDay ReportingDay Reporting

Day reporting is another form of intermediate sanction. The offender is assigned to a facility where he or she must report on a regular basis at a specific time every day to participate in activities such as counseling, social skill training, and employment training.

The goals of the day reporting center are to provide punishment in a cost-effective way,

Drug Treatment ProgramsDrug Treatment ProgramsDrug Treatment ProgramsDrug Treatment Programs

The Drug Treatment Alternative to Prison (DTAP) program offers pretrial defendantsin drug cases charged with a second felony offense an opportunity to enter residential treatment centers.

Those offenders who successfully complete the program have their charges dismissed by the district attorney’s office, and the offender avoids a prison sentence.

Sixth StepSixth StepSixth StepSixth Step

House Arrest and Electronic Monitoring

Used in conjunction with intensive supervision and restricts offender to home except when at work, school, or treatment.

House Arrest and Electronic MonitoringHouse Arrest and Electronic MonitoringHouse Arrest and Electronic MonitoringHouse Arrest and Electronic Monitoring

The concept of house arrest, or home confinement, tends to vary from one jurisdiction to another and to produce varying degrees of offender control.

Home confinement rages from evening curfew to detention during all nonworking hours to continuousconfinement at home.

The most severe form of home confinement, or house arrest, requires offenders to remain in their home, other than when they have permission to leave for employment, religious services, and medical reasons.

The sanction of house arrest can stand alone, or it can be coupled with electronic monitoring, fines, community service, and other obligations.

Seventh-StepSeventh-StepSeventh-StepSeventh-Step

Halfway House

Residential settings for selected inmates as asupplement to probation for those completing prison programs and for some probation or parole violators. Usually coupled with community service work and/or substance abuse treatment.

Eighth StepEighth StepEighth StepEighth Step

Boot Camp

Rigorous military-style regiment for younger offenders, designed to accelerate punishment while instilling discipline, often with and educational component.

Boot CampsBoot CampsBoot CampsBoot Camps

Offenders sentenced to boot camps live in military-style barracks. They are usually first-time offenders in their late teens or early twenties, who undergo rigorous physical and behavioral training for three to six months.

Boot camps are designed to give offenders a sense of responsibility and accomplishment while improving self-discipline.

In a survey of boot camp programs, it was found that the typical pattern was the use of strict discipline, physical training, drill and ceremony, military bearing and courtesy, physical labor, and summary punishment for minor violations of rules.

Ninth StepNinth StepNinth StepNinth Step

Jail

More serious offenders serve their terms at stateor federal prisons, while county jails are usuallydesigned to hold inmates for shorter periods.

administration of intermediate administration of intermediate sanctions?sanctions?administration of intermediate administration of intermediate sanctions?sanctions?

• restitution• pretrial diversion• fines (>$1billion/yr)• forfeiture (RICO; >$1 billion-drugs)• intensive supervision• electronic monitoring• home confinement• day reporting centers

• probation center• day reporting ctr• restitution center

• shock incarcerationshock incarceration• boot campboot camp

the judiciary

the community

the the institutioninstitution

• work furlough• medical treatment

• drugs• psychological

• fire, forestry campsfire, forestry camps• intermittent sent.intermittent sent.

““restitution”restitution”““restitution”restitution”

compensation for financial, physical, or emotional loss caused by an offender, in the form of either monetary payment to the victim (or a public fund for crime victims) or work at a service project in the community

definition

selecting the agency (who administers?)selecting offender (who should receive?)

based on offense severity? based on offender needs? the troublesome issue of “stakes”

selecting the sentence problem of interchangeability

widening the net wider nets (catch more offenders) stronger nets (harder to escape control) different nets (different kinds of control)

problems with problems with intermediate sanctionsintermediate sanctionsproblems with problems with intermediate sanctionsintermediate sanctions

““stakes”stakes”““stakes”stakes”

the potential losses to victims & CJS if offender fails; stakes include injury from new crimes + public pressure resulting from negative publicity

relevance: most “appropriate” sentence may not be “available” because of public/political pressure/concerns.

eg, high-profile offender simply can’t be paroled or put on probation.

definition

“ “principle ofprinciple ofinterchangeability”interchangeability” “ “principle ofprinciple ofinterchangeability”interchangeability”

idea that different types of intermediate sanction can be calibrated so that they may be compared quantitatively with one other, despite significant differences in approach

4 months of 4 months of boot camp?boot camp?

or 8 months of community service?

or or $10,000?$10,000?

or 12 months of home confinement?

Are these the same?Which is equivalent to another?

definition

ReviewReviewReviewReview

Types of intermediate sanctions include intensivesupervision of probation, restitution and fines, communityservice orders, day reporting centers, house arrestand electronic monitoring, halfway houses, drugcourts, and boot camps. Some sanctions are much olderthan the others. The halfway house movement goes backto early in the twentieth century. Some intensive supervisionof probation, restitution and community serviceorders, house arrest and electronic monitoring, drugcourts, and boot camps are more widely used thanothers. Reviews of these sanctions are mixed, but thereseems to be general agreement that they are preferable toreturning offenders to prison for technical violations ofprobation and that some offenders, especially drug offenders,appear to profit from these programs.