NCJ Number
167588
Date Published
1995
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This research assessed the degree to which Tennessee's intensive supervision and community corrections programs are being used for offenders whom judges would normally sentence to jail or prison if the programs did not exist; conversely, the research assessed the degree to which the new programs were being used for offenders who normally would be sentenced to regular probation.
Abstract
The research drew representative samples of felons sentenced to regular probation, intensive probation, community corrections, jail, and prison with probation-eligible sentences. The respective samples were analyzed and compared to determine whether the intensive probation and community corrections offenders bore closer resemblance to the incarceration samples or to the regular probation sample. Closer similarity to the incarceration samples would suggest that the programs were diverting offenders who normally would be incarcerated. Closer resemblance to the regular probation sample would imply that net widening instead of true diversion was occurring. Tabular analysis, chi-square statistics, analysis of variance, and discriminant analysis were used to determine measures of the degree of similarity among programs and diversionary estimates. The major finding of the research is that some diversion and some net widening apparently occurred. Intensive probation and community corrections are thus accomplishing their stated objective of diverting some offenders from incarceration, but they are also being used for some offenders who normally would be sentenced to regular probation. 10 notes and 4 tables