NCJ Number
105079
Date Published
1985
Length
15 pages
Annotation
Community corrections needs to receive increased emphasis in the future, because emphasizing incarceration for all but the most dangerous offenders is a costly and futile way of trying to provide for community safety.
Abstract
Community corrections reflects the reintegration philosophy that emerged in the late 1960's as a shift away from the clinical model, which, in turn, represented a shift from the reform model that had prevailed until the 1930's. Community corrections programs have grown rapidly and encompass a diverse array of services. Most of the growing numbers of convicted offenders now serve some or all of their sentences in the community. Community sentences have expanded partly for cost reasons and partly because they are regarded as more humane and at least as effective as prison. Community corrections has five basic goals, but a uniform organizational structure and philosophy does not exist. Counties usually run probation; States, parole; and private providers, residential programs like halfway houses. Funding issues represent an ongoing problem, particularly for private providers, although California, Minnesota, and Oregon have established correctional policies to address these issues. Evidence on effectiveness is mixed, but the bulk of the evidence supports the view that community corrections is as least as effective as imprisonment, costs much less, has less criminogenic impact on its clients, and is more humane and reintegrative than incarceration. The projected increases in offender populations by the 1990's strongly indicate the need to consider prisons a scarce resource for selective incapacitation. Adequate resources and program evaluations will be needed to support the most effective use of community corrections. 18 references.