NCJ Number
88493
Journal
Corrections Magazine Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Dated: (April 1983) Pages: 6-8,10-17
Date Published
1983
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Intensive probation supervision (IPS) has such features as a curfew, heavy surveillance, community service, and restitution, and when used with offenders who would otherwise have been imprisoned, it has proven cost-effective.
Abstract
IPS involves smaller caseloads for probation officers because of the increased time spent with each client, and greater restrictions are imposed compared to regular probation, such as a curfew. Prison overcrowding in many States has prompted an interest in intensive probation for nondangerous offenders customarily imprisoned. Most of the IPS programs have measures to ensure that only offenders who would otherwise have been imprisoned are admitted to the program; e.g., Georgia screens offenders only after they have been imprisoned, and those selected are returned to court with the recommendation that they be resentenced to IPS. Many probationers involved in IPS programs appreciate the alternative to imprisonment, and this provides incentive to succeed in the program. Further, the increased amount of time the probation officer spends with the client makes the development of a close relationship between officer and client more likely. Even though smaller caseloads increase the cost of IPS compared with regular probation, IPS costs significantly less than imprisonment. Some jurisdictions require clients of IPS to pay a probation fee to cover some of the costs of expanded services. In addition to providing a cost-effective alternative to prison, IPS is also reestablishing the credibility of probation with the courts, the police, and probation officers themselves. Attention is given to the IPS programs of Georgia, Texas, and New York.