NCJ Number
162021
Journal
Crime and Delinquency Volume: 42 Issue: 2 Dated: (April 1996) Pages: 192- 205
Date Published
1996
Length
24 pages
Annotation
Federal cases were analyzed to determine the extent to which changing Federal sentencing policy to conform to the criteria of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) would make additional offenders eligible to be considered for an alternative sanction, as well as some consequences of such policy changes.
Abstract
Although the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 advocated the use of least restrictive alternatives, the United States Sentencing Commission has devised guidelines that authorize prison for all felony convictions. Alternatives to institutionalization are available for low-level offenders, but research has revealed that the use of probation and other alternative sanctions has declined since the full- scale adoption of the guidelines in 1989. This research applied the NCCD criteria to data from 1992 and 1993. Results revealed that more than 19,000 offenders in the Federal caseload that were considered ineligible for nonincarcerative sanctions may deserve a second look and be considered for alternative sentences. These offenders included both drug and property offenders. Tables, notes, and 28 references (Author abstract modified)