NCJ Number
146629
Journal
British Journal of Criminology Volume: 30 Issue: 2 Dated: (Spring 1990) Pages: 121-149
Date Published
1990
Length
29 pages
Annotation
This paper examines the quantitative, rather than the qualitative, aspects of net-widening to argue that the growth of community corrections alternatives is actually more ominous than the use of earlier forms of control.
Abstract
Evidence for this conclusion is drawn from the fact that net widening programs are often added on to imprisonment, and are not really alternatives at all. Political and analytical rationales -- particularly the mainstream view that "nothing works," particularly in rehabilitation -- underlie the need for a reexamination of net-widening. According to this author, the use of net-widening arguments by penal authorities should be considered especially problematic, since they are often mere attempts to transfer funds from one program to another. An analysis of Canadian decarceration literature and key studies conducted by Hylton and Chan and Ericson reveal several methodological problems, including partial documentation of incarceration trends and the obscurement of fundamental differences between imprisonment and probation data. 4 tables, 4 figures, 9 notes, and 96 references