U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Ethics of Community-Based Sanctions (From Contemporary Community Corrections, Second Edition, P 408-419, 1996, Thomas Ellsworth - See NCJ-163569)

NCJ Number
163576
Author(s)
A von Hirsch
Date Published
1996
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This chapter calls for increased study of the ethical considerations surrounding the use of noncustodial sanctions.
Abstract
The essay addresses two kinds of ethical issues involved in noncustodial sanctions. One concerns just deserts, that is, the proportionality of the sanction to the gravity of the crime of conviction. The other issue, actually a cluster of issues, concerns the intrusiveness of the sanction, the constraints that are needed to prevent punishments in the community from degrading the offender or threatening the rights of third parties. In connection with restrictions against humiliating or degrading punishments, the concept of acceptable penal content is also developed. This is the idea that a sanction should be devised so that its intended penal deprivations are those that can be administered in a manner that is clearly consistent with the offender's dignity. Because exploration of innovative noncustodial penalties has only just begun in the United States, little thought has been devoted to limits on their use. Without adequate limits, however, they could become just another menace and extend the network of state intrusion into citizens' lives. Notes, references