NCJ Number
173987
Date Published
1996
Length
143 pages
Annotation
This study attempts to determine whether non-prison sentences actually reduce crime.
Abstract
The study is the first comprehensive, statewide evaluation of Connecticut's alternative to incarceration programs, providing information to the Judicial Branch about the outcomes of pretrial and sentenced clients. Results from the second year of a multi-year longitudinal study, while not conclusive, strongly support expanded use of carefully supervised sentences to community-based alternative to incarceration programs. The study was conducted in two phases. Findings from the Pretrial Defendants phase determined that defendants released with conditions posed less risk to the community of new arrests and failures to appear in court than defendants who were ordered to post bond without additional conditions. The Sentenced Offenders phase indicated that offenders sentenced to community programs in most instances posed less risk to public safety than a comparison sample of offenders released after having been incarcerated. Persons convicted of drug or violent crimes did better in the first 2 years than other types of offenders under community supervision. Notes, tables, figures, appendix, references