NCJ Number
95048
Date Published
1984
Length
18 pages
Annotation
The New York Center on Sentencing Alternatives (NYCSA) responds to a critical evaluation of its program in New York State to provide Client Specific Planning (CSP) services -- alternative sentencing plans prepared at the request of defense attorneys for clients likely to be sentenced to prison and presented to the court at sentencing.
Abstract
The NYCSA developed the CSP concept in 1979 and affiliated with the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives in 1981, when it began to implement the CSP model throughout New York State with a private foundation grant. The project subsequently received a State grant, although not at the time the evaluation was requested by the State's Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS). NYCSA was disappointed in the conclusions of the DCJS's evaluation, particularly regarding its efforts to cooperate. First, the evaluation was conducted over 2 years ago when the project was in its initial stages, and thus many comments are outdated. The evaluation characterized the CSP as a radical departure from traditional sentencing practice that proceeded from outside the criminal justice system. In fact, the NYCSA tried to mesh the CSP service into traditional and existing practice and procedures, and all CSP's were developed at the authorization of the defense counsel. The program's intent was not to depart from existing practices, but rather to individualize sentencing by developing comprehensive and well-documented recommendations for court consideration. The evaluation also inaccurately portrayed the process of plan preparation, misconstrued the identification and confirmation of plan elements, neglected the fact that all community resources were apprised of the circumstances surrounding the CSP's request for services, and obscured the fact that CSP recommendations were not always community-based.