NCJ Number
178706
Date Published
1999
Length
96 pages
Annotation
In the 1995 British Green Paper, "Strengthening Punishment in the Community," it was proposed that courts be given greater discretion in the use of community sentences, so that the amount and form of probation and community service would be tailored more closely to the individual offender; the two demonstration projects described in this report were created to test how far changes in approach, consistent with the principles proposed in the Green Paper, might be achieved within current law.
Abstract
A number of changes were common to both demonstration projects. First, they provided sentencers with more detailed information about the content of community penalties. Second, sentencers were given an opportunity to be more specific about what they wanted presentence reports to cover. Third, sentencers were invited to comment on the range and content of community service provisions. Fourth, sentencers were given a structure that enabled them to receive feedback on offender completion rates. The two projects were successful in that they showed that more effective communication between the probation service and sentencers did lead to improved understanding; however, the projects also showed that simply encouraging sentencers, especially magistrates, to make more use of community sentences did not lead to significant changes in sentencing practices. The results suggest that such changes require legislation. 25 tables, 18 references, and appended supplementary materials