NCJ Number
164197
Journal
Policy Statement Dated: (July 1996) Pages: 12-17
Date Published
1996
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This speech by Christine Todd Whitman, the Governor of New Jersey, focuses on her State's efforts to develop a "graduated" corrections system and improve the State's juvenile justice system.
Abstract
The prison population in the United States has nearly tripled over the past 15 years, but there is no evidence that this widespread use of incarceration has reduced the crime rate. Corrections is most effective when it focuses on sanctions that are appropriate to public safety but also address rehabilitation. New Jersey is aiming to balance the three goals of the corrections system: incapacitation, deterrence, and rehabilitation. This is being done through a "graduated" corrections system that reserves incarceration for hard-core, violent, chronic offenders. Toward this end, the State has enacted a "three strikes" law that targets such offenders for long-term incarceration. For other offenders, however, the State is developing a variety of intermediate, community-based sanctions, including electronic monitoring, an expanded halfway house program, and an increase in community drug and alcohol treatment programs. A recent review of New Jersey's juvenile justice system found it to be seriously flawed. There were wide disparities among jurisdictions in the options the juvenile code gives juvenile judges; the code does not allow a judge to consider public safety and accountability in rendering a decision. Also, State juvenile justice programs are disjointed, and there has been a failure to involve local communities in State planning for juvenile justice. In an effort to address these flaws, the State is rewriting the Juvenile Justice Code, such that judges will be able to consider public safety and an offender's accountability in case dispositions; courts will be able to require parents who fail to exercise reasonable supervision and control to pay restitution regardless of the offense. A permanent new State commission will coordinate juvenile justice policy throughout the State. The most important aspect of the new program involves State/Community Partnership Grants that will recognize, support, and partially fund innovative and effective interventions at the local level. The Federal Government can make a difference by providing the technical assistance, research, and evaluation needed to provide direction to States and communities.