NCJ Number
81461
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 44 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1982) Pages: 12-13,16,18
Date Published
1982
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Measures to cope with the burgeoining number of convicted offenders without building new prisons are suggested.
Abstract
Funds for the building of new prisons are not acceptable in view of the reduced food stamps for poor families, fewer social services for the elderly, and diminished health and other services for the general public. Instead, prison space should be used more effectively. Only offenders who meet agreed-upon criteria of dangerousness should be confined; property offenders and others should be dealt with through a wide variety of nonincarcerative options, including probation, fines, and community service orders. However, recent evidence has suggested that such alternatives have not reduced incarceration, correctional budgets, recidivism, or probation caseloads. Better controls are needed for how such programs are administered; the judiciary must be educated to see how a good concept can be undermined, and alternative programs must be evaluated. Attention should also be paid to initiatives taken by certain States (Michigan and Iowa) which have legislatively mandated population caps, with mechanisms for early release when populations reach a critical point, and to States (such as Minnesota) which have set up sentencing guidelines that are intended to maintain a correctional population no larger than the system's capacity. Moreover, many nondangerous offenders could be released from prison than have been already, but government officials fear adverse public opinion. Prisons needing repair or remodeling should be replaced, but the correctional philosophy for the 1980's should reduce reliance on the prison and use more humane and cost-effective means of control and punishment. A table depicts some prison sentences in Oklahoma.