NCJ Number
210503
Journal
Journal of Offender Rehabilitation Volume: 40 Issue: 3/4 Dated: 2005 Pages: 153-175
Date Published
2005
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This study examined any gender differences in preferences for avoiding or participating in boot camp and other alternative sanctions and the implications of the findings for the design of boot camp programs.
Abstract
In October 1995 a sample of 875 inmates (450 men and 425 women) was drawn from Oklahoma Department of Corrections files. Inclusion in the sample required that the offender had been convicted of a nonviolent controlling offense, did not have a history of habitual or violent behavior, and had received a sentence of 5 years or less in the Oklahoma correctional system. These criteria were used because they tended to identify the population of offenders most likely to be eligible for some type of alternative sanction. Participants were presented with descriptions of boot camp and nine other alternative sanctions. They were asked to indicate how many months of boot camp they were willing to serve to avoid 12 months of traditional imprisonment. Findings showed that men were more likely than women to choose prison over any duration of boot camp; men identified more strongly than women with reasons given to avoid alternative sanctions; and women were willing to participate longer in boot camp than were men; however, both men and women, on average, were unwilling to serve more than 4 months in boot camp in order to avoid 1 year of imprisonment. These findings are preliminary, and further research should be conducted to determine gender differences and other differences in preferences for various alternative sanctions, which should in turn have implications for programming in various sanctions. 5 tables and 20 references