NCJ Number
159432
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 57 Issue: 7 Dated: (December 1995) Pages: 152,154,156
Date Published
1995
Length
3 pages
Annotation
Many experts advocate the development of community-based corrections, but community resistance has been a major obstacle in implementing alternative sanction programs.
Abstract
For example, it is difficult to locate halfway houses because citizens oppose having these facilities in their neighborhoods. More importantly, since the 1980's, prisons have been perceived as appropriately punitive while alternatives to imprisonment are not punitive enough. Studies of public attitudes toward sentencing indicate most people favor punishment. The current study explored public attitudes toward community-based corrections using students at a medium-sized university, citizens who participated in a survey in a midwestern state, probation and parole officers, judges, prosecutors, inmates, and police officers. The study questionnaire requested information on attitudes toward crime, punishment, and the criminal justice system. Most respondents endorsed community-based alternatives for many offense scenarios. For certain offense scenarios, such as those involving a weapon or an assault and those involving prior offenses, most respondents favored incarceration. Judges, prosecutors, and police officers were significantly more likely to endorse prison sentences than citizens and inmates, with probation and parole officers falling somewhere in between. Policy implications of the study findings are discussed, with special emphasis on public perceptions and misconceptions about the "leniency" of the criminal justice system. 3 tables