Offenses by Prisoners on Leave of Absence: A Representative Study From Lower Saxony (From Developments in Crime and Crime Control Research, P 41-53, 1991, Klaus Sessar and Hans-Jurgen Kerner, eds. -- See NCJ-127801)

• NCJ Number: 127804
• Author(s): F Berckhauer; B Hasenpusch
• Date Published: 1991
• Length: 13 pages
• Sale Source: Springer-Verlag
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: Germany (Unified)

Annotation

This West German study examines the offense rate of a sample of inmates on various types of leave of absence from prison.

Abstract

The sample consisted of 153 inmates on extended leave (4.1 percent of all such inmates), 175 inmates on work furlough (8.5 percent of all such inmates), and 248 inmates with a "day out" (4.8 percent of all such inmates). All new offenses registered by the police and committed during leave granted in 1983 were included in the analysis. Inmates on work furlough performed best; the 175 inmates outside prison for 1,793 days committed 15 offenses during this time (.84 offenses per 100 man/days). Inmates on a "day out" ranked next with 1.59 offenses per 100 man/days, and the inmates on extended leave had the worst record: 1.76 offenses per 100 man/days. Compared to the total number of offenses over this time period, the sample committed 0.5 percent of them. Thus, the crime rate of inmates on leave is not a serious problem. Apparently, the prison staff has reduced the risk of crimes by inmates on leave through careful selection of inmates given the privilege, preparation for time of leave, and the threat to refuse leave in the future should new offenses be committed. The low crime rate of offenders on leave of absence is not cause to eliminate the practice given the associated benefits. 5 tables and 16 references