When developing alternative or intermediate sanctions, communities should not only evaluate the level of risk the offender poses, but also what type of program will help reduce that risk. By making this match between offender and program, offenders can become productive citizens in the community while agencies can improve prison overcrowding, which in turn saves the taxpayers money. Are your programs matching the risk the offender poses to the community to the proper intervention? Read on to find out.

Public Perception

Alternatives to incarceration in the form of early release, home detention, expanded parole, work release programs and behavior modification experiments can be labeled differently depending on whom you ask. 

The debate over the terminology stems from the public perception that an alternative sanction is less of a punishment than jail. But studies show inmates perceive these programs differently.

Sociology professors Harold Grasmick, Ph.D., and Peter Wood, Ph.D. of the University of Oklahoma, Norman, found in their 1995 study ‘Inmates Rank the Severity of Ten Alternative Sanctions Compared to Prison' that at least five of the common alternative sanctions were identified as more punitive. 

The ten alternative sanctions presented to the inmates in the study were: county jail, boot camp, electronic monitoring, regular probation, community service, day reporting, intensive supervision probation (ISP), intermittent incarceration, halfway house and day fine. Combinations of these sanctions such as electronic monitoring and community service were viewed as significantly more oppressive than incarceration alone.

“Our overall conclusion is that's naive to assume that these alternative sanctions are not punitive,” said Grasmick. The trick is to find the sanctions that make the most impact.

Successful Correctional Interventions

According to Dakota County (MN) Community Corrections, the most effective programs use a cognitive/behavioral approach as opposed to non-directive client centered counseling, or unstructured psychodynamic therapy. Behavioral intervention is most effective when applied to offenders in the moderate to high-risk levels, such as offenders with anti-social associations or has family/parental problems. Treatment works best when it is at least six months in length, is provided outside of a correctional setting, includes behavioral/skills building and involves the offender's family issues. 

“We have more people on jail alternative programs then we have in jail,” said Mark Carey, Community Corrections Director, Dakota County (MN) who prefers the term intermediate sanction. “Alternative sounds like we're not punishing people. All of these things come with a price tag to the offender.” 

The secrets to Dakota County's success are careful screening, clear objectives, designing programs for their target population and collaborative planning. The collaboration includes the entire justice system. “If they're not part of the solution it's only a matter of time until someone starts watering it down,” said Carey. 

Carey advises that communities be very clear about what they are trying to achieve. Moving on a scale from low-risk to high-risk changes the primary goal of the programs. The low-risk level has an objective of general deterrence the intermediate sanction options of diversion, fines, restitution, community work service, and day fines and law enforcement mediation. The medium-risk level has an objective of specific deterrence and restoration with intermediate sanction options of supervised work crews, victim impact panels, crime repair crews, victim/offender mediation, house arrest, probation service center and youth repay crew. The high-risk level has an objective of public safety, risk reduction and restoration. The intermediate sanction options for this level are in/out patient treatment, electronic home monitoring, day reporting center, intensive supervision, female offender programming, restitution center (residential), sex offender programming and cognitive/behavioral programs. Beyond these risk levels are prison, jail and boot camps with the objective to incapacitate the individual. 

In Dakota County some programs are designed for jail reduction and some are designed to meet the specific offender needs. With a drug dealer, the last option should be electronic monitoring because they can run drug deals from their home. Monitors can detect that they are in the correct location, but do not address an offender's drug problem. When addressing sex offenders and domestic violence offenders, the sanctions are usually in addition to jail time. These offenders are required to attend case management groups and educational programs to address their issues. According to Carey, “they are trying to maintain a strong handle on them.”
 

Connecticut's Alternative Sanctions Programs

Connecticut has one of the most unique alternatives to incarceration programs in the country because the state has a unified system, which makes it easier to implement change. In the late 1980s, the DOC's prisons were so overcrowded that offenders were serving less than 10% of their sentences. “Sentencing had no meaning anymore,” said Robyn Oliver, Program Manager, Alternative Sanctions for the state. By 1990, the citizens of Connecticut were tired of paying for the construction and upkeep of prisons and officials realized that neither the prison overcrowding or credibility problems were solved.

State Judge Aaron Ment proposed two pieces of legislation. The first created the Office of Alternative Sanctions (OAS), which now falls under State Court Support Services, and the second demanded progressive increases in the percentage of time served by inmates, which ultimately reinstated the parole system. 

“We try to match the appropriate client to the appropriate placement,” said Oliver. “We don't like to set our clients up for failure. Many of our clients have never had positive experiences like this. It is really doing a lot of role modeling and exposure.”

Connecticut has developed a range of programs based upon a statewide effort of more than 50 public and private providers that deliver the following services:
 

• Substance abuse treatment
• Drug court
• Intensive supervision probation
• Community service
• Day incarceration centers
• Mediation
• Youth confinement centers
• Restitution centers
• Victim restitution
• Family counseling
• Halfway house placement
• Electronic Monitoring/house arrest
• Sex offender supervision and treatment

A recent initiative includes juvenile alternative sanctions programs with court-based assessment, non-residential and residential alternatives to detention, gateway offender programs, juvenile justice centers, intensive outreach and monitoring and juvenile supervision and reporting centers. 

New Paths, Inc.

New Paths is a twenty-year-old community corrections residential probation program in Flint, Michigan. It serves as a sentencing alternative for prison and jail bound adult male misdemeanor and felony offenders who are non-violent in nature and offense. Residents in the facility adhere to strict supervision and behavior standards, participate in substance abuse therapy or prevention classes, educational programs and life skills groups.

“If you set up the right program for these people you set them up so that they can have some success later on,” said Eugene Baldwin, Executive Director, New Paths. “We go at where the deficiencies are with the individual and/or where the problems are.”

New Paths offers classes in adult education, stress management, general parenting, specifically African American parenting, employability skills and many others. This non-profit organization exists with the help of the community. The community has taken responsibility for staffing New Paths with over 60 community agencies involved. New Paths has contractual relationship with the county and offenders are referred by the courts. Teachers in the program come from the Flint, Michigan education system and  counselors come from substance abuse agencies. 

Baldwin measures the success of the program on the basis that, “when they leave us they are able to take that attitude change out there with them. We've impacted their lives for the short term, We've impacted their lives for the long term and there isn't anymore we can do then that.”

Upon the offenders exit interview the most common response according to Baldwin is, “they say they've learned to be patient. This is a very significant thing the fact that they can be patient in terms of confrontation and not react to it” 
 

One of the most successful programs is a non-residential Intervention Weekend, which is a 48-hour lock-down program for men and women with misdemeanor drunk driving offenses. The program educates the participants about the effects of alcohol on their bodies; the various costs that are associated with consistent alcohol use, both personal and social; and how to develop a plan to change their behaviors. The participants pay $175 to attend.

“Even with the intervention weekend, it's the community corrections approach. It's a collaborative effort to pull it off,” said Baldwin. The program uses a variety of community resources such as MADD and AA. It is also connected with Friends of the Court, which collects late child support from deadbeat moms and dads. Those who are arrested for failure to pay are also sent to New Paths until they have reconciled their situation.

Resources:
Harold Grasmick: University of Oklahoma Sociology Department (405) 325-1751
Mark Carey: Dakota County Community Corrections Director (651) 438-8290
Robyn Oliver: Program Manager, Alternative Sanctions, CT (860) 563-5797
Eugene Baldwin: Executive Director, New Paths, Inc., MI (810) 233-5340