NCJ Number
101677
Date Published
Unknown
Length
48 pages
Annotation
Interviews with 38 circuit court judges in Virginia formed the basis of an analysis of the current probation system and of an effort to identify the types of offenders that could potentially be diverted to probation.
Abstract
The judges believe that the State Department of Corrections needs systematically to increase the availability of community services to the localities. Judges would be more inclined to sentence offenders to probation if resources were available in the locality. Factors considered in the sentencing decision are the immediate offense, the offender's social and criminal history, community safety, public opinion, availability of community services, perceptions of prison and jail overcrowding, and perceptions of the quality of probation supervision. The community services regarded as most in need of expansion are residential programs, psychological or psychiatric counseling, drug and alcohol treatment programs, and vocational training and placement services. The judges are most likely to sentence drug and alcohol abusers, parole violators, nonviolent recidivists, the chronically unemployed, the mentally ill and retarded, sex offenders, and youthful offenders to probation. The factors limiting the increased use of probation are the lack of community services, the overworked probation staff, public opinion, and laws on mandatory sentences. Recommendations focus on ways to increase the use of probation. Tables; 7 references; appendixes presenting instrument, list of subjects, and information on methodology.