NCJ Number
111436
Date Published
1988
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This paper discusses intensive supervision, an alternative form of punishment in lieu of prison incarceration, which involves very close contact with officers in charge and a complicated set of compliance rules.
Abstract
The compliance rules usually include early evening curfew, participation in community service activities, as well as maintaining steady employment and residence, avoiding unwholesome companions, and obeying all laws. Key elements of intensive supervision are that (1) it is a new and different program, not an extension of earlier traditional supervision; (2) the frequency of contacts and the imposition of curfew and restitution bring to bear a level of severity of punishment enough to make it acceptable to many as an alternative to incarceration; and (3) the frequency of contact at least enhances the control-of-behavior aspect of management. The overriding factor of accountability dominates in intensive supervision. The offender is more accountable for his behavior, the officer is accountable for knowing about the behavior of his charges, and the officer is accountable for fully accomplishing those activities that are too often seen, under pressure of high caseloads, as ideal procedures rather than realistic goals of the operation. While accountability may be the basis for acceptance of the program by judges, within the framework of intensive supervision there is the potential that many of the goals expected by regular supervision may be achieved, laying the groundwork for a revitalization of supervision as a valuable tool of probation and parole. 20 references.