NCJ Number
137191
Journal
Federal Prisons Journal Volume: 2 Issue: 4 Dated: (Winter 1992) Pages: 20- 28
Date Published
1992
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Innovative community corrections programs that combine punishment, detention, and offender self-improvement appear to represent one of the best options for improving the administration of justice as well as minimizing the worst effects of prison overcrowding in Federal, State, and local correctional systems.
Abstract
These programs should be implemented independent of the level of prison crowding, however. The Federal Bureau of Prisons was the catalyst for the use of these programs in the United States, opening three halfway houses in 1961. In 1965, halfway houses began accepting both pre-release offenders and direct commitments, and the number of Federal halfway houses reached 300 in 1967 and 2,000 a decade later. Home confinement was introduced in the Federal system in 1986 and now includes both curfew parole and home detention with electronic monitoring. Concerns about community corrections include public perceptions, privacy issues, offender selection and participation, and administrative issues. However, community corrections also offers many advantages, including increased sentencing options, cost- effectiveness, greater public safety, meaningful punishment, and opportunities for rehabilitation. Thus, these options should continue to be used. Photographs, and reference notes