NCJ Number
89209
Date Published
1982
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Hawaii should increase the use of community service restitution programs as a sentencing alternative and should deemphasize intermittent sentences, jail as a condition of probation, or short terms of incarceration for misdemeanants.
Abstract
In addition, further studies of inmates at State correctional facilities should focus on the development of policies and criteria to increase the number of persons placed in furlough and parole programs and on confirming findings that serious offenders are being detained. The research sould also focus on issues involved in updating bail laws and coordinating their implementation among criminal justice agencies. Providing alternative sentencing to persons with intermittent sentences would have little impact on the problem of overcrowding, since only 2.6 percent of the total prison population had intermittent sentences on June 15, 1982. However, alternative sentencing would be helpful in the County of Hawaii, which had 14 persons sentenced to intermittent terms. The main source of overcrowding is sentenced prisoners, rather than those who have not been sentenced. Prosecutors are the main decisionmakers regarding the imposition of high bail, while judges are the major decisionmakers regarding sentencing alternatives. Nine data tables are provided.