NCJ Number
144195
Date Published
Unknown
Length
88 pages
Annotation
The Connecticut Office of Alternative Sanctions was created to develop a 3-year plan for the creation of a range of sanctioning options available throughout the State. To assist that effort, the Justice Education Center, Inc., was commissioned to hold a series of regional meetings to provide data that will inform program planning and policy issues and to conduct research on current offender populations that will identify types of defendants best suited for community-based sanctions.
Abstract
A number of themes emerged from the regional meetings that were also supported by the research data. In terms of policy, this report supported graduated sanctions. In choosing the potential pool of offenders for alternative sanctions, participants in the meetings indicated that public safety was most important and treatment was second. Graduated sanctions might be explored for certain categories of offenders including pretrial detainees, repeat offenders, probationers, and serious felons. There are currently gaps in program services for particular categories of offenders including specialized populations, underserved populations, and violators of probation and repeated failures to appear. There was wide support at the regional meetings for program expansion in the areas of substance abuse treatment, juvenile services, services for Latinos, and services for female offenders. Areas for future research should encompass program evaluation, case flow analysis, screening criteria, treatment needs, offender assessment, banned offenses, probation, and time served. 11 figures, 20 notes, 6 appendixes