Intermediate_Sanctions

Intermediate Sanctions Diane L. Feehan Axia College Foundations of the Criminal Justice System / CJS/200 January 21, 2011 James B. Spina Intermediate Sanctions Intermediate sanctions was created as an alternative to jail or prison through the use of midlevel punishments to midlevel offenders. Developed at the state and local levels, this alternative has proven to be a cost effective diversion to offenders. There are various forms of intermediate sanctions include day reporting centers, intensive supervision probation (“ISP”) programs, shock incarceration, and home confinement. Day reporting center allow the offender to remain in the community, but spend most of each day at the center. With all offenders under one roof, intense supervision is accomplished. These centers offer treatment programs for drug and alcohol abusers, counseling for psychological issues such as depression and anger management, educational programs and the like. These programs are designed to intensely supervise and greatly assist the offenders who are sentenced to these day reporting centers. ISP is more restrictive than regular probation. It involves more face-to-face contact between the offenders and their probation officers. Unfortunately, ISP has not proven to be as successful in deterring repeat offenders. Shock incarceration can be compared to the Scared Straight type of system. It is a short-term imprisonment that is usually given to first-time offenders in order to hopefully deter them from future criminal behavior. The term of shock incarceration can be a few weeks to a couple of months and the remainder of the offender’s sentence is suspended so long as he or she does not reoffend for a period of at least a year or two after returning to society. Home confinement has three forms: curfew, home detention and home incarceration, each of which is self-explanatory to a degree. Curfew, obviously, requires the person to be at home by a certain time. Home detention requires the person to be at home most of the time, but there are exceptions for education, employment, counseling, food shopping and sometimes church. Electronic monitoring involves wearing a device that monitors the location of the person and alerts officers if he or she roams out of range. If the device is tampered with, an alert will also go out and the police will be dispatched. To be able to attend counseling or hearings, the officer must be notified first so that police are not dispatched when the person roams out of range. All of these types of intermediate sanctions are designed to maintain an intense control over the person on probation. They are an alternative to jail or prison and not to be taken lightly. The person is allowed to remain in the community. Depending on the circumstances would determine whether or not this form of punishment is appropriate. For the first-time offender, it would be worth a try; however, it is up to the offender to make it work.