NCJ Number
232536
Journal
Victims & Offenders Volume: 4 Issue: 4 Dated: October 2009 Pages: 348-356
Date Published
October 2009
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article examines the effectiveness of institutional and community-based sanctions.
Abstract
The following article examines the results of evidence-based reviews of what works in several areas, including the general and specific impact of prison and jail sentences, sentencing alternatives (or preentry strategies), and the recent proliferation of reentry initiatives. The findings included here underscore three points: (1) the need to greatly expand and improve our research base before evidence-based reviews are used as the basis for policy and practice; (2) given our uncertainty regarding the impact of individual offender-based change strategies, the need to consider how individual change may be related to community change; and (3) given the available evidence on general and specific deterrence, the need to rethink the purpose of current sentencing schemes. (Published Abstract)