NCJ Number
157945
Date Published
1991
Length
96 pages
Annotation
The 1991 annual report of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation describes the Foundation's Justice Program initiative in Delaware and provides data on grant funding by State.
Abstract
In 1988, the Justice Program initiated a comprehensive approach to control the growth of prison and jail populations in Delaware. Rapid inmate growth and overcrowded prison conditions forced a re-examination of the corrections system and the development of significant reform measures prior to the Justice Program's intervention. The cornerstone of the Justice Program initiative in Delaware is the Sentencing Accountability Commission (SENTAC). Established in 1987, SENTAC is composed of a working board of criminal justice officials and a citizen representative. Its mandate is to ensure that sentencing policies incarcerate violent offenders, restore victims, and rehabilitate offenders. In the few years SENTAC has been operational, the number of persons imprisoned for nonviolent crimes has decreased. The Justice Program also works with Delaware's Department of Corrections to place low-risk pretrial defendants in community programs and offers pretrial release classes to inmates. The Justice Program seeks to establish constitutional conditions in adult and juvenile prisons, mainly through litigation, and works to develop community-based alternatives to institutionalization. Examples of such alternatives include intensive supervision program and parole, community service, victim restitution, and drug abuse treatment. The Justice Program encourages States to keep juvenile offenders in alternative community programs. Data on Foundation grant funding provided to States for correctional reform are tabulated. Photographs