Alternative Forms of Punishment and Supervision for Convicted Offenders (From Dealing With the Dangerous Offenders, Volume 2, 1983, by Daniel McGillis et al - See NCJ-92277)

• NCJ Number: 92284
• Author(s): M E Smith
• Date Published: 1983
• Length: 30 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Available on microfiche as NCJ-92277. Presented at the Conference on Public Danger, Dangerous Offenders, and the Criminal Justice System, Harvard University, February 11-12, 1982.

Annotation

If incarceration sentencing is to focus primarily upon the incapacitation of 'dangerous' offenders, then alternative means must be found to provide punitive and even incapacitative sentences that do not involve jails or prisons.

Abstract

Nonviolent offenders who may not be a serious threat to society but who repeat offenses require sentencing that is sufficiently punitive to provide a deterrent and sufficiently incapacitative to prevent further criminal behavior during the sentencing period. Fines may be punitive if they require the offender to sacrifice in making payment, but only if payment is secured. It is probable that as the number of fine sentences increases, the percentage of defaults will increase, requiring that backup punitive alternatives other than jail be provided. The current conditions of probation are not sufficiently punitive or incapacitative to be useful as an alternative to incarceration. Conditions of probation, however, could be made more punitive through community service requirements and more incapacitative through rigid monitoring and supervision. House arrest and surveillance could increase the incapacitative impact of community-based alternatives to incarceration, as could more tightly controlled school and employment programs. Currently, alternatives to incarceration are too lenient to satisfy the public demand for the punishment and incapacitation of petty offenders, particularly those who are recidivistic.