NCJ Number
239157
Journal
Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice Volume: 28 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2012 Pages: 42-59
Date Published
February 2012
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This article discusses the future of community corrections.
Abstract
The political, economic, and social context in which community corrections functions makes it extremely difficult to achieve successful outcomes. The current fiscal crisis, however, is forcing change as many States can no longer support the cost of the 30-year imprisonment binge. As in the past, community corrections will be expected to pick up the pieces of an overcrowded and expensive prison system. The authors argue that community corrections is capable of taking on this challenge and can be successful if policymakers take action to reduce prison and community supervision populations, ensure that agencies are structured to proactively support evidence-based practice, and recognize corrections as a human services profession. The authors present a number of actions that can be taken to promote a new era of shared responsibility in corrections that is framed within a human rights perspective and driven by an ethic of care. (Published Abstract)