NCJ Number
80221
Journal
Indian Journal of Criminology Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Dated: (July 1981) Pages: 114-119
Date Published
1981
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Court treatment of nonviolent felony offenders in Rockland County, N.Y., an affluent suburban area, is compared with the court treatment of such offenders in New York City, and recommendations for reducing the disparity are offered.
Abstract
Because of the large number of violent felony cases in New York City each day, adjustments tend to be made in nonviolent felony cases to ease the workload on the courts. District attorneys and city judges handling nonviolent felonies are amenable to reducing the charges to misdemeanors with short jail sentences, probation, adjournment in contemplation of dismissal, or even conditional discharge of 1 year. In Rockland County, however, where over 85 percent of the 315 indictments in 1980 were for nonviolent burglary crimes, charges for nonviolent felony crimes are not reduced, and the majority of these offenders will be placed on probation for 5 years, will be required to give restitution, and will be sentenced to up to 4 months of weekends in the county jail. In some exceptional cases, offenders will be required to perform 6 months to 1 year of community service in some religious or other charitable institution. Efforts should be made to reduce this disparity between the treatment of nonviolent felony offenders in urban and suburban jurisdictions. New methods of prosecution and sentencing are suggested, including the sentencing of nonviolent felony offenders to work in nonresidential work facilities established by the State. Recommendations for pretrial release of such offenders are also offered. Tabular data and references are not provided.