NCJ Number
141608
Journal
Law and Human Behavior Volume: 17 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1993) Pages: 187-201
Date Published
1993
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This study examines Florida's intermediate punishment strategy of home confinement to determine whether or not it accomplishes its purpose of reducing reliance on prisons by redistributing control into the community or extends community control without altering previous reliance on prisons.
Abstract
The operational features of the program were documented from observations of program practices and interviews with home confinement officers, offenders in the program, and various family members living in the home. Preprogram and postprogram statistics (1980-1987) on State population, felony convictions, and forms of correctional sanctions explored the program's impact on the State's characteristic sanctioning trends. The findings indicate that home confinement has not reduced Florida's reliance on prisons. Throughout the decade of the 1980's, and despite the operation of a home confinement program that has involved over 100,000 offenders, Florida's use of prisons increased dramatically disproportionately to the State's population and conviction increases. The paper concludes with a discussion of ironies associated with correctional reforms and related empirical and theoretical implications. 2 tables and 60 references