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Between Prison and Probation: Toward a Comprehensive Punishment System (From Criminal Justice System: Politics and Policies, Seventh Edition, P 407-419, 1998, George F. Cole and Marc G. Gertz, eds. -- See NCJ-185991)

NCJ Number
186009
Author(s)
Norval Morris; Michael Tonry
Date Published
1998
Length
13 pages
Annotation
In the context of record-high incarceration rates and overwhelming probation caseloads, the authors support the use of intermediate sanctions in the community to punish offenders who do not require the restrictions of prisons and offenders who require more restrictions than those imposed by probation.
Abstract
More than 1 million Americans aged 18 years and older are in prisons and jails, and more than 1.5 million are on parole or probation. These numbers have highlighted the need for intermediate sanctions for offenders who are now in prisons and jails and for offenders who are sentenced to probation or suspended sentences. Intermediate sanctions should be rigorously enforced and breaches of conditions of intermediate sanctions should be taken seriously by supervising authorities and sentencing judges. Intermediate sanctions include fines, community service orders, and intensive probation. The authors discuss the over-use of imprisonment and probation, the under-use of intermediate sanctions, and sentencing reform through intermediate sanctions.