NCJ Number
178041
Journal
Prison Journal Volume: 79 Issue: 2 Dated: June 1999 Pages: 205-225
Date Published
1999
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This study evaluates offender targeting and program termination among a sample of 204 offenders who were sentenced to a day reporting center (DRC) in a southeastern North Carolina county.
Abstract
The 1994 North Carolina Structured Sentencing Act led to the increased use of intermediate sanctions such as day reporting centers. A day reporting center requires the offender to be supervised by a probation officer and be assigned to a "facility to which offenders are required...to report on a daily or other regular basis at specified times for a specified length of time to participate in activities such as counseling, treatment, social skills training, or employment training" (Clarke, 1994, p. 6). In evaluating the use of the day reporting center in a southeast North Carolina county, this study focuses on client targeting, i.e., who was originally intended to be sentenced to the day reporting center and who was actually sentenced, and case characteristics that affect the likelihood of termination from the program. The study found that despite sentencing guidelines that encompass day reporting centers, judges sentenced some offenders to the day reporting center who were ineligible. Issues of net-widening and judicial compliance are discussed. Also, findings show that the rate of program termination was high. Logistic regression analysis shows some offender characteristics that affect the likelihood of termination from the DRC. 2 figures, 3 tables, and 18 references