Nonresidential Intermediate Sanctions Chapter 9 Nonresidential Intermediate Sanctions

Intensive Supervision Probation is an enhanced form of probation, and includes: Closer surveillance More conditions More exposure to treatment ISP attempts to: Use prison diversion to relieve prison overcrowding and the costs of incarceration Increase public safety Impose punishment that is less severe than imprisonment but more severe than regular probation

ISP was originally designed for high-risk, high-need offenders who were eligible for prison, but today most programs are considered “probation or parole enhancements” ISP caseloads are generally smaller than regular caseloads, providing increased surveillance and control, although not lower recidivism

ISP programs are very popular due to the surveillance orientation and the public’s preference that community penalties be demanding Critics of ISP point to “net-widening” and the lack of a restorative justice philosophy, making victim needs secondary to the offender

Evaluation of ISP programs considered: Reduction of prison beds Treatment participation Cost-benefits analysis The conclusion following evaluation was: Without treatment intervention, ISP does not provide cost savings or decrease the number of prison beds Technical violation rates are high and result in an increase in the number of jail and prison commitments

House Arrest confines pretrial detainees or convicted offenders to their homes when they are not at work, attending treatment or visiting their probation officer House arrest is often a condition of ISP or combined with electronic monitoring The concept goes back to Galileo in the 1500s and has been popular in the U.S. since the 1980s

House arrest is criticized because: It does not seem to be a punishment It may be overly intrusive for pretrial detainees Offenders can still commit crimes from their homes Domestic violence incidents may occur Offenders on house arrest are twice as likely as regular parolees to be revoked for a technical violation

Electronic Monitoring is used in ISP, specialized caseloads day reporting centers, house arrest and pretrial defendants and is a technological means of assuring certain conditions are me EM was developed in the 1960s during the deinstitutionalization movement of the mentally ill

Problems with early EM programs included: The requirement of a land line telephone and the financial ability to afford a monthly fee The land line phone was only able to track an offender within a certain number of feet No guarantee that the correct person was being monitored Technical and electrical problems caused problems

Remote Location Monitoring systems utilize a special pager to periodically or continuously monitor the offender throughout the day and/or night Some remote location systems provide monitoring by officers with portable handheld receivers

Global Positioning Systems use military satellites to pinpoint locations anywhere in the world using data coordinates GPS systems allow the probation officer to program specific exclusion and inclusion zones Drawbacks to GPS include loss of signal, short battery lives and cost

Of the approximate 150,000 offenders nationwide on electronic monitoring, only about 1200 were on GPS The cost effectiveness of EM has mixed reviews Critics of EM cite net widening and ethical concerns that private companies are profiting

Offenders monitored by EM expressed: Preference for EM over jail Limitations on doing things spontaneously Loss of control over their freedom Shame from the sanction Family problems from constantly being at home Over half of New Yorkers surveyed approved use of EM after an offender had served time, but less than 1/3 approved EM in lieu of incarceration

Evaluations found that EM makes a difference in how offenders act while under supervision The impact on long term recidivism rates for offenders on EM remains unclear Completion rates for EM participants were uniformly higher during the EM period and for the entire term of supervision

Day Reporting Centers are used for pretrial releasees, convicted offenders on probation or parole, or as an increased sanction for violators DRCs combine all resources and educational programs into a “one stop shop” DRCs began in England and Wales in the 1970s and appeared in the U.S. in 1985

The purposes of DRCs are to: Save space in jail and prison Provide a close level of community supervision Provide offenders with access to services and treatment programs DRCs measure effectiveness using completion rates, rearrest rates and predictions of program failure