NCJ Number
97024
Journal
New York University Review of Law and Social Change Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Dated: (1983-1984) Pages: 171-197
Date Published
1984
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This article considers the extent to which alternative sentencing can relieve jail and prison overcrowding.
Abstract
Advocates of alternative sentencing are urged to attack the view that equates punishment and control with incarceration and believes that alternatives are suitable only in cases when neither punishment nor control is thought necessary. Further, the issue of whether there can be punishment without jail is addressed, and the use of such alternative punishments as fines, probation, conditional discharge, and community service sentencing is examined. Additionally, an apparently successful New York City effort to eliminate short jail terms by imposing community-service sentences on petty recidivists is described. The possibility of incapacitation without incarceration is considered, with attention to intensive supervision and the benefits of employment and educational elements in supervision programs. A few program ideas that aim expressly to control participants' behavior so effectively that a true incapacitative impact is achieved, are described; for example, because of overcrowding in San Diego's juvenile facility, the court remanded a number of juveniles to house arrest; probation officers were assigned to ensure that the juveniles stayed put. Efforts of the Hartford Institute of Criminal and Social Justice to test a program for controlling the behavior of chronic delinquents while keeping them in the community and providing them with a full range of services is also discussed. Finally, the need for society to develop enforceable punishments short of jail is emphasized. Thirty-six references are included.