NCJ Number
123146
Journal
Federal Probation Volume: 54 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1990) Pages: 23-27
Date Published
1990
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This analysis of the use of intensive supervision programs as sanctions that lie between incarceration and traditional probation concludes that some serious offenders regard these programs as at least as punitive as imprisonment, if not more so.
Abstract
Thus, considering offenders' perceptions in structuring sanctions and making sentencing decisions could be useful. Several studies have shown that many serious and repeat offenders do not regard prison as stigmatizing or socially isolating and may prefer a short stay in prison to a long term in intensive supervision. The large number of inmates with prior incarcerations also indicates that the possibility of imprisonment is not an effective deterrent for these offenders. However, to be effective deterrents, sanctions should consider offenders' perceptions rather than the perceptions of society at large. Nevertheless, our sanctions are almost completely based on the perceptions of law-abiding citizens. Thus, designing community-based punishments that offenders would see as punitive might convince policymakers that other methods besides imprisonment exist to extract punishment. Footnotes and 17 references.