Transcript Community Based Corrections, 7 edition th

Community Based
th
Corrections, 7 edition
Leanne F. Alarid, Paul F. Cromwell, and
Rolando V. del Carmen
Thomson Wadsworth Publishers
Chapter 1
THE STATE OF CORRECTIONS TODAY:
WHY COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS IS
IMPORTANT
The Correctional Dilemma
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Since the mid-1970’s, the public and politicians
have pursued “tough on crime” correctional
strategies
Today, the United States incarcerates the highest
percentage of convicted misdemeanants and
felons in the nation’s history
Nearly 7 million people are in jail, prison or on
probation or parole
The Correctional Dilemma, cont.
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In the last decade, the corrections system has
increased by 2.7% annually
The number of women offenders in all categories
continues to increase
 The number of women on probation and parole
has doubled in the past 15 years
The rise in convicted offenders is
directly related to four factors
1.
2.
3.
4.
Changes in Sentencing Laws and Longer
Sentences for Violent Offenders
Differential Police Responses to Drug Offenses
Decreased Rate of Release on Discretionary
Parole
Increase of Probation and Parole Violators
Returning to Prison
Changes in Sentencing Laws
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Indeterminate sentencing was the primary
sentencing philosophy from 1930’s to 1970’s and
parole boards determined readiness for release
Support declined in the 1970’s due to questions
regarding rehabilitation and fairness of sentencing
Maine was the first state to adopt determinate
sentencing in 1975
Changes in Sentencing Laws, cont.
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Most states gradually adopted determinate
sentencing structures that based the sentence on
the severity of the crime and the offender’s
criminal history
Examples are mandatory minimums, truth in
sentencing, three strikes laws and sentencing
guidelines
16 states abolished parole as backdoor release
strategy
Changes in Sentencing Laws, cont.
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Federal sentencing guidelines are the most
controversial
State sentencing guidelines provide for more
judicial discretion
While discretionary parole rates have decreased,
periods of mandatory release have increased
The pendulum may be swinging away from
conservative sentencing policies
The Toughening of Juvenile Justice
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Most states have changed to model the adult
system
Some juveniles are tried as adults automatically
by type of crime or by discretion of the prosecutor
or judge
Other areas, i.e., fingerprinting, opening records,
opening court proceedings, etc. have become
more like the adult system
The Toughening of Juvenile
Justice, cont.
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The Juvenile Justice system still exists separately
from the adult system, with rehabilitation and
diversion as core missions
Most juvenile offenders are nonviolent and are
tried in juvenile courts under a more informal
process than adults
The Paradox
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Corrections policy shifts as legislators perceive
what the public wants
Public opinion polls often ask crime policy
questions in simplistic terms
The media often reports biased, sensationalist
views of crime and criminal justice
Consequently, the public is not well informed
Public Perceptions of Community
Corrections
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8 of 10 adults favored alternative programs for
non-violent offenders such as community service,
mandatory education and job training 400 citizens
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Pennsylvania citizens supported community
corrections sentences for drug and property
offenders when restitution was a condition
Public Perceptions of Community
Corrections, cont.
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Researchers found the public believed
intermediate sanctions fit between prison and
probation with home detention, ISP and weekend
sentences ranked from most to least severe
400 Cincinnati residents were open to house
arrest, halfway house placement or ISP for four
different crime types when provided information
about each offender
Public Perceptions of Community
Corrections, cont.
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The public endorsed community-based
alternatives that would punish, restrain and
change offenders
The public has a low tolerance for failure of those
who have been to prison
Public opinion supports use of community-based
corrections and intermediate sanctions,
particularly if treatment results in safer
communities
Correctional Budgets
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Budgets for jails and prisons has significantly
increased while some probation and parole
budgets have decreased
$36.1 billion was spent nationwide on state and
federal prisons, with a median of $368 million per
state, representing a 12% increase over four years
Correctional Budgets, cont.
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$3.9 billion was spent on probation and parole
programs nationwide, a decrease from $4.6 billion
in 1999, with average budget per state of $82.9
million
While 70% of all persons under correctional
supervision are on probation and parole, these
programs receive only 11% of the total budget
The Role of Corrections at Three
Major Decision Points
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Discretion, or subjective decision making, in the
criminal justice system begins with victims and
law enforcement
Community corrections is a sanction in which
offenders serve some or all their sentence in the
community
A community sentence seeks to repair the harm
the offender has caused the victim or the
community
The Role of Corrections at Three
Major Decision Points, cont.
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Community-based sanctions span a wide variety
of residential, economic and non-residential
treatment options
Probation is the most common form and serves as
the base of community supervision
The American Probation and Parole Association
provides professional training and standards for
community corrections
Pre-trial and the Bail Decision
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Following arrest, a defendant is considered for
release from custody
Bail often requires monetary payment deposited
with the court to ensure return, but many
defendants are released on their own
recognizance
Pre-trial supervision is a form of correctional
supervision that monitors the defendant’s
compliance with bond conditions
Sentencing Decision
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The vast majority of offenders can be punished in
the community
Intermediate sanctions offer graduated levels of
supervision
A full range of sentencing options gives judges
greater latitude to select punishments that more
closely fit the crime and the offender
Reentry Decision
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95% of incarcerated prisoners will one day be
released
Prisoner reentry is “conducted to prepare exconvicts to return safely to the community and to
live as law abiding citizens”
A prerelease program is a minimum security
institution for offenders nearing release
Programs such as halfway house, boot camps
and therapeutic communities are examples of
back-end programs
Parole
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Parole is the discretionary conditional
release of an offender prior to the
expiration of sentence
While technical differences exist between
pretrial supervision, probation and parole,
all involve supervision in the community
How Community Corrections Fits
Correctional Goals
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Community corrections punishes offenders
while protecting the public, addressing
victim needs and preventing future criminal
behavior though:
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Rehabilitation
Community Reintegration
Restorative Justice
Shaming
Protection of the Public
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A major criticism of traditional probation and
parole has been the failure to protect the public
from future criminal acts
This criticism can be addressed in several ways:
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Appropriate risk assessment must be utilized to select
appropriate offenders
The supervision of offenders should include proper
monitoring of compliance with conditions
Violations of supervised conditions must be taken
seriously
Rehabilitation
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A goal of community corrections programs is to
correct inadequacies that contribute to criminal
behavior
Typical problems encountered include drug or
alcohol addiction, lack of emotional control,
inadequate education or vocational training, lack
of parenting skills, mental illness and
developmental disability
Rehabilitation, cont.
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Correctional treatment or programming is the
means by which offenders receive assistance for
their problems
The offender has to have the genuine desire to
change
Offenders who pose a serious danger to society
or themselves should not be in a community
corrections program
Often offenders receive more treatment in the
community than in prison
Rehabilitation, cont.
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Community based programming costs the tax
payer less because employed offenders pay for
all or part of their treatment
Community based sanctions provide a means for
offenders who are not dangerous to repay their
victims and the community
Rehabilitation, cont.
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Proponents believe that if the issues related to
criminal behavior for certain offenders are
addressed, recidivism can be reduced between
10 and 60%
The Corrections Program Assessment Inventory
(CPAI) indicates that only 10-20% of all
correctional treatment programs are “high quality”
The key is to replace ineffective programs with
ones that work
Community Reintegration
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The 1967 President’s Commission on Law
Enforcement and Administration of Justice
introduced the term “reintegration”
Institutions isolate offenders physically and
psychologically
Reintegration stresses adaptation to the
community by requiring participation in programs
that develop accomplishments and the use of
skills in the community
Restorative or Community Justice
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Restorative Justice is victim centered and
emphasizes offender responsibility to repair the
injustice that offenders have caused their victims
When a crime is committed, the offender harms
both the individual victim and the community
The offender must repair the damage by
remaining in the community and repaying the
victim and the community at large
Public Shaming as Punishment
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Some offenders can be deterred from future criminal conduct
by being publicly shamed
To be effective, shaming must have five conditions:
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The offender must belong to an identifiable group
The form of shaming must be sufficient to compromise the
person’s social standing in the group
The punishment must be communicated to the community
The offender must fear being shunned
Normally, there must be a method for the offender to regain
social status
The Effectiveness of CommunityBased Corrections
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“Evidence-based corrections” attempts to
measure the process of a program and the impact
it had on participants
Robert Martinson’s 1974 study of 231 correctional
treatment programs concluded few had an
appreciable effect on recidivism
Lipton, Martinson and Wilks reported reaching a
similar conclusion in 1975
Both studies set off a national debate on the
effectiveness of corrections
The Effectiveness of CommunityBased Corrections, cont.
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Martinson’s study coincided with a conservative
era of national politics when rehabilitative
philosophy was associated with liberal politics
Research methodology must be sophisticated and
rigorous enough to determine what does and does
not work
When evaluating effectiveness, treatment groups
must be matched with control groups, which is
difficult to achieve with current sentencing
practices
The Effectiveness of CommunityBased Corrections, cont.
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Net widening is a common problem and occurs when an
intermediate sanction is utilized unnecessarily in lieu of a less
restrictive, and less costly, alternative
Evaluations of community service, ISP and boot camps reflect
similar recidivism rates for new crimes as comparable
offenders receiving other sentences
Whether this is good or bad depends on whether the
participants would have otherwise been in a less restrictive
program (probation) or more restrictive program (prison)
The Effectiveness of CommunityBased Corrections, cont.
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Recidivism, or the rate of recidivism, is the most common
form of measurement of program or treatment effectiveness
Recidivism is defined as repetition or return to criminal
behavior, measured by:
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Rearrest,
Reconviction, or
Reincarceration
Different studies identify recidivism in different ways, making
comparisons of effectiveness difficult
The Effectiveness of CommunityBased Corrections, cont.
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The effectiveness of community corrections
depends on:
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How recidivism is measured
Whether recidivism is measured only during periods of
supervision
Whether recidivism rates are compared with rates of
offenders of similar age and criminal history or with no
control group
Whether group assignment is random or quasiexperimental
If offenders would have received a lesser or greater
sanction
The Effectiveness of CommunityBased Corrections, cont.
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Effectiveness might be measured in
different ways:
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Amount of restitution collected
Number of offenders employed
Amount of fines and fees collected
Number of community service hours
Number of probationers enrolled in school
Number of drug-free days
Impact on reduction of institutional crowding