NCJ Number
133080
Date Published
1990
Length
18 pages
Annotation
One strategy to prevent recidivism and reduce prison overcrowding involves shock incarceration (SI) in boot camps.
Abstract
SI programs can benefit the criminal justice system in several ways. First, they allow policymakers to improve correctional resource management by providing a less costly alternative to traditional prison incarceration. Although boot camps cost more or as much per day per inmate as regular incarceration, the shorter period of imprisonment leads to greater savings. Second, the appeal of enhanced discipline is cited as a system benefit. Finally, boot camp programs are an intuitively appealing strategy to rehabilitate young offenders and deter future criminal activity. States have experimented with SI programs as well as with programs like Scared Straight in New Jersey and Juvenile Offenders Learn (JOLT) in Michigan that attempt to deter young individuals from beginning or continuing a life of crime. Rather than stressing the uncertainty of release from the general prison population where offenders were given a second chance in early programs, current SI programs emphasize the certainty and severity of punishment as the driving deterrent force. Based on a military boot camp design, young offenders earn a second chance by participating in and successfully completing an intensive program of physical training, hard labor, and exposure to the realities of traditional prison incarceration. Evaluative surveys of boot camps indicate they are achieving rehabilitation and deterrence goals and are reducing prison overcrowding. Boot camp program models are described, and recommendations for the expansion of boot camp programs are offerred. 29 references