NCJ Number
102417
Date Published
1986
Length
33 pages
Annotation
In focusing on the goals and philosophy underlying community sanctions, this monograph intends to assist policymakers, administrators, and program managers in assessing current community sanctions and planning new programs and policies.
Abstract
Community sanctions are sentences implemented in a community setting rather than in a prison. Sanctions are based in the traditional purposes of punishment: just deserts (or retribution), deterrence, rehabilitation, and incapacitation. Issues that should be considered in designing a community sanctioning system include the basis for determining the sanction, the information required to determine the sanction, the key actors that should determine the nature of the sanction, when the sanctions should be established, distinguishing features of the sanction, and appropriate sanctioning options under the selected philosophy. Other than the punitive goals of sanctions, goals might include cost minimization, reduction in prison and jail crowding, helping crime victims, and increasing public satisfaction with the criminal justice system. To illustrate the implications of philosophical differences for program implementation, the monograph discusses victim-offender reconciliation programs, community service programs, and intensive supervision programs.