NCJ Number
84039
Date Published
Unknown
Length
0 pages
Annotation
Corrections officials from the District of Columbia, Minnesota, and New York are joined by an investigator concerned with alternative programming to discuss the political and administrative issues involved in implementing alternatives to institutionalization including halfway houses, diversion programs, and furlough and restitution plans.
Abstract
The D.C. Department of Corrections operates 12 halfway houses and a furlough program. It is faced with the unique challenge of working with D.C. government officials, the U.S. Congress, and the U.S. Attorney General in trying to implement additional alternative programming. Although the Bail Reform Act allows judges to place offenders in halfway houses and not prisons, it has not been enough to overcome public opposition to community-based corrections in the district. In Minnesota, the 1973 Community Corrections Act has encouraged communities to treat locally juvenile offenders and adults sentenced to less than 5 years for felonies. Another corrections official discusses New York's approach to handling youth placed outside their homes, youth's legal rights under State law, and problems encountered with diversion programs. The investigator favors decriminalization of all drug offenses, questions the guarding of inmates on furlough, and argues that restitution programs are viable only if payment is demanded of all criminals regardless of social class.