Chapter 10 Community Sentences: Probation, Intermediate Sanctions, and Restorative Justice

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Chapter 10 Community Sentences Probation,
Intermediate Sanctions, and Restorative Justice
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Learning Objectives

• Be familiar with concept of community sentencing
• Know the history of community sentences
• Recognize the different types of probation
  sentences
• Be familiar with the rules of probation
• Know about the organization and administration of
  probation services

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Learning objectives

• List and discuss the elements of a probation
  departments duties
• Be familiar with the legal rights of probationers
• Debate the effectiveness of probation
• Know what is meant by intermediate sanctions
• Define restorative justice and discuss its merits

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The History of Probation Community Sentencing

• Traced to the Middle Ages
• Judicial reprieve
• Recognizance
• Sureties
• John Augustus and the Creation of Probation
• Boston (1841) is credited with originating
  community sentencing in the U.S.
• Augustus supervised more than 2000 convicted
  offenders
• In 1878, Massachusetts legislators authorized the
  appointment of a paid probation officer

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Probation Today

• Probation Defined
• Criminal sentence that suspends or delays a
  correctional term in a prison or jail
• Subject to rules and conditions
• Be supervised by a probation officer
• Most widely used correctional mechanism in the
  U.S.

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Probation Today

• 2,000 adult probation agencies in the U.S.
• 2 million offenders placed on probation annually
• (2009) more than 4 million offenders on probation
  in the U.S.

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Probation Today

• Awarding Probation
• Subject to a set of rules or conditions mandated
  by the court
• Violation of these conditions may result in
  revocation of probation requiring the original
  sentence to be served
• Technical violations are the major cause of
  revocations
• Probation Eligibility
• Original purpose was to provide a second chance
  for young offenders
• Contemporary purpose is to ease jail and prison
  overcrowding

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Who is being sentenced to probation?
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Probation Today

• Conditions of Probation
• Certain conditions or rules of behavior that the
  probationer is bound to obey
• Sentencing judges have broad discretion
• Standard conditions
• Specific conditions
• Cannot be capricious or cruel

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Probation Today

• Administration of Probation Services
• Independent, statewide, local, or a combination
• Juvenile and adult services can be separated or
  combined
• Probation officers use discretion in monitoring
  and treating offenders
• Social worker style
• Law enforcer style

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Probation Today

• Elements of Probation
• Pre-sentence investigation
• Intake
• Diagnosis/Risk Classification
• Treatment
• Supervision

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Probation Today

• Legal Rights of Probationers
• Civil Rights
• Fewer constitutional protections
• Some rules on self-incrimination do not apply
• Rules on search and seizure are not always the
  same
• Revocation Rights-
• Due process rights apply during revocation
  hearings

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Probation Today

• How Successful is Probation?
• Most commonly used alternative sentence
• Less expensive than incarceration
• About 40 percent fail on probation most for
  technical violations of rules
• Recidivism rate is less than those sent to prison

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Probation Today

• How successful is Felony Probation?
• RAND study
• Few distinguishable crime differences between
  felons sent to prison vs. felons sentenced to
  community supervision
• Most felons sentenced to community supervision
  failed probation
• Study findings still support community
  corrections for eligible offenders
• Recidivism for felony probationers was less
  likely

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Probation Today

• Who Fails on Probation and Who Succeeds?
• 20 of probationers have mental illness or
  history of instability
• Probationers with criminal history, prior
  probation, and previous incarceration are mostly
  likely to fail
• Probationers who are married with children,
  educated, stable, and employed are most likely to
  succeed

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Probation Today

• The Future of Probation
• Shift from diagnosis and treatment to an emphasis
  on risk assessment and control
• Initiatives
• Day fees
• Rewarding effective probation agencies
• Hotspot probation
• Area needs
• Specialized probation
• Private probation
• Swift and sure punishment

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Intermediate Sanctions

• Between probation and prison
• Less costly
• Helps offender maintain family and community ties
• Structured to maximize security and maintain
  public security
• Scaled in severity to seriousness of crime
• Increased control over probationers
• Can be used as halfway-back strategies for those
  who violate conditions of their community release

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Punishment Ladder
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Intermediate Sanctions

• Fines
• Used more often in lesser offenses or when
  financial profits were high
• May discriminate against the poor who cannot pay
• Many go uncollected
• Day fines
• Make the fine fit the offenders income

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Intermediate Sanctions

• Forfeiture
• Used in civil and criminal cases
• Civil forfeiture can be done without probable
  cause or any proof of a crime
• Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act
  (RICO)
• Zero tolerance
• Restitution
• Monetary restitution or community service
  restitution
• Benefits the victim, the offender, and the
  community
• Most restitution clients successfully complete
  and do not recidivate

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Intermediate Sanctions

• Shock Probation and Split Sentencing
• Shock probation
• Offenders serve a short prison term before they
  begin probation
• Split sentence
• 10 of probationers are now spending a portion
  of their sentence behind bars and the remainder
  in the community
• Shock Incarceration
• Boot Camps

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Intermediate Sanctions

• Intensive Probation Supervision
• Involve small caseloads - (15-40 )
• Clients closely monitored
• Goals
• Decarceration
• Control
• Reintegration
• Effectiveness varies failure rates appear to be
  high, but it works better for some clients than
  others
• More successful for employed probationers than
  the underemployed or unemployed
• More effective if combined with treatment
  modalities

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Intermediate Sanctions

• House Arrest
• Offender required to spend extended periods of
  time at home as an alternative to incarceration
• Little standardization throughout U.S.
• No definitive date indicating effectiveness

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Intermediate Sanctions

• Electronic Monitoring
• Electronic transmission devices used to ensure
  compliance with house arrest
• Newer devices utilize GPS technology for tracking
  purposes
• Lower costs, higher security
• Overcrowding is reduced

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Intermediate Sanctions

• Residential Community Corrections
• Usually non-secure buildings
• Residents work and/or attend school during the
  day, return to the center at night
• Used as pre-release center
• Provide a structured environment for treatment

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Intermediate Sanctions

• Day Reporting Centers
• Facilities that provide a single location for
  client reporting for supervision and treatment
• Used as a step up for higher risk probationers
  and a step down for jail or prison inmates
• Evaluations show success in reducing recidivism

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Restorative Justice Programs

• Restorative Justice
• Restoring the damage caused by crime
• Creating a system of justice which includes all
  parties harmed by the criminal act
• All crimes bring harm to the community
• Coercive punishment is inherently harmful to
  offenders

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Restorative Justice Programs

• Concept of Restoration
• Offenders must accept accountability for their
  actions and responsibility for the harm their
  actions caused
• Justice policy needs to repair the harm caused by
  crime and involve all parties that have suffered
  including the victim, the community, and the
  offender

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Restorative Justice Programs

• Restoration Programs
• Inclusion of all parties involved in a criminal
  act
• Intended result of the process is to repair
  injuries suffered by the victim, and the
  community, while ensuring reintegration of the
  offender
• Methods
• Negotiation
• Mediation
• Consensus building
• Peacekeeping

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Restoration in Practice

• Schools
• Police programs
• Pretrial programs
• Court programs

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The Challenge of Restorative Justice

• Entry may favor whites over minorities
• Cultural and social differences may dictate what
  is restorative
• Lack of a common definition
• Balancing the needs of offenders with victims
• Programs focusing on offender may turn off victim
• Some believe victims rights are threatened by
  features of restorative justice