NCJ Number
188875
Date Published
2000
Length
149 pages
Annotation
This report summarizes the activity, methodology, and accomplishments of Wisconsin's effort to determine how the State ought to allocate its penal resources among existing and new penal measures and how they should be applied to particular cases in the pursuit of justice and public safety.
Abstract
A Working Group on Sentencing and Corrections was established, composed of judicial and executive branch officials known for their interest and competence in sentencing matters. The activities of the Working Group and its recommendations were the core of the project. The Working Group identified the risks posed by offenders in ways that would help define appropriate Department of Corrections responses. The Working Group identified 24 behavioral categories (e.g., street-level drug sale, opportunistic burglary), each of which must be assessed and addressed differently in different places. Each of the 24 categories of risks to public safety was analyzed to determine what would be required -- by way of prison cells, local confinement capacity, community supervision agents, drug treatment, jobs, and housing -- in Milwaukee, in the next four largest counties, and in the rest of the State. The 24 behavioral categories were placed under eight offense categories: assaults, burglaries, drug offenses, frauds, homicide, public order, sex offenses, and theft offenses. Recommendations are offered for better controlling such risks, both in penal institutions and in the community. The Working Group recommends that the focus be on the control of risk posed by offenders in particular places and at particular times and that the nature and degree of supervision and control of an offender be directly related to the risk of harm he/she poses to others. Further, over time, change in the nature of the control and supervision exercised over offenders should be a function of changes in the risk they present. Early intervention to control risk is of the essence, and correctional staff in prisons and in communities must have greater flexibility to change the terms of the State's correctional interventions. The core of programming to control risk should include active supervision of offenders. The Working Group recognizes that an essential element of risk reduction is that offenders have strong connections to family members and other mature people who will help control their behavior; active supervision requires that probation and parole agents work to help develop these connections. Long-term recommendations pertain to changes in law that will be required for implementing sentencing recommendations, and short-term recommendations pertain to the management of offenders. Appended final report and other materials relevant to a presentation of project findings and activities