NCJ Number
131202
Date Published
1989
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Many State and local policymakers have begun to examine community-based sanctions as a way of expanding past the traditional incarceration and probation/parole alternatives.
Abstract
Six factors have instigated this trend: an expanding prison population, the prohibitive costs of constructing and operating prisons, a demand for more effective transition and community supervision, high recividism rates for felons placed on probation, a shift in the goals of corrections toward ensuring public safety and promoting justice, and changes in offender characteristics. Community corrections encompasses a range of services that strive to divert prison-bound offenders, control and supervise offenders with community sentences, and supervise offenders at the end of prison terms. In devising community corrections plans, legislators must develop a policy that fits intergovernmental financial realities. Community corrections acts (CCAs) can offer financial incentives to encourage local governments, define the targeted population, and outline chargeback provisions. Several important innovations in community corrections include intensive supervised probation or parole, home confinement, and residential programs. 26 references