Chapter 1 PROBATION, PAROLE, & COMMUNITY

B. Entry into the System
Initial contact is made with the system when an act makes a person the subject of interest to law enforcement agencies.
Police may observe a crime; police may be called to the scene of a crime or a victim may report a crime.
Many crimes go undetected, unreported or police may not arrest a suspect.
Police make an arrest after investigation and sufficient evidence to identify the violator and justify an arrest.
Suspect is taken into custody, interrogated, photographed and fingerprinted. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

C. Prosecution and Pre-Trial
After arrest, the prosecutor receives the case and evidence. Two decisions are made:
if charges will be filed
what charges will be filed.

Prosecutor may not prosecute a case for several reasons:
insufficient evidence
witness problems
victim behavior and characteristics
prosecution caseloads
decision to try a more serious case pending against the suspect Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

A grand jury determines if there is enough evidence to justify a trial.
If the evidence is sufficient to justify the case going to trial, the grand jury will return a "true bill of indictment."

A preliminary hearing is also used during the pre-trial phase to determine if the case should go to trial.
Attorneys present the case in open court before the judge who makes a decision about the evidence.
A finding of "probable cause" indicates that the evidence is sufficient for the suspect to stand trial. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

Arraignment
Defendant appears in court to hear formal charges
Defendant is informed of rights:
the right to trial by jury
the right to an attorney
protection from self-incrimination
the right to confront and cross-examine witnesses.
The defendant enters a plea and informs the Court of the desire for an appointed attorney.
If the defendant is declared indigent, an attorney will be appointed. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

6. Bail and detention decisions
Bail guarantees that the defendant will return for trial and allows the defendant the freedom participate in his or her defense while awaiting trial.
Research has shown that the money bail system discriminates against the poor. The poor often:
remain in jail prior to trial,
plead guilty more often
receive a more severe sentence.
Plea bargaining allows cases to move through the
court system faster and saves the cost of a trial.
About 90% of all cases end in a plea bargain rather than a criminal trial. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

D. Adjudication
Case is presented in Court by prosecuting and defense attorneys before a judge or jury.
Evidence is presented and witnesses are confronted and cross-examined.
The judge or jury hearing the case must decide that the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt" proves that the defendant did commit the crime.
the standard of proof must be "proof beyond a reasonable doubt."
When the jury cannot reach a decision, it becomes deadlocked.
Jury deadlock leaves the case unresolved and open for a possible retrial. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

5. Sentencing
Follows conviction of the defendant
Judge requests a pre-sentence investigation report
Questions to be addressed in sentencing:
Incarceration or community program?
If community supervision, what special conditions that should be assigned? Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

E. Corrections Phase
The Corrections system is responsible for carrying out the sentence that has been imposed by the Court.
The defendant may be placed in an institutional correctional facility or a community-based corrections program.
Bureau of Justice Statistics (2010):
1.6 million confined in the nations jails and prisons.
Approximately 5 million were supervised in a community-based program.
Less expensive than incarceration
Relieves prison overcrowding Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

Community-Based Corrections
Community Based Corrections: Definition
Community Corrections is a strategy for managing offenders by reducing institutional confinement in favor of community supervision.
Community-based correctional programs already in existence and creation of new programs were alternatives to incarceration used in response to overcrowding in the nation’s prisons.
Two primary goals:
promote rehabilitation and reintegration back into society
Reduce prison populations and prison costs Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

Purposes of Corrections
Retribution
Derived from lex talionis, an ancient form of justice and revenge which meant “eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth.”
In the Code of Hammurabi, this referred to “equality of revenge”. The amount of revenge taken against an offender could not exceed that of the harm caused by the offender.

Retribution perspective is that the offender must pay his or her debt to society. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

Incapacitation
Emphasizes that incarcerating the offender protects society from the offender’s potential criminal activities.

Related to a changing philosophy in corrections that stressed punishment over rehabilitation.

Incarcerating convicted criminals is viewed as a strategy for deterring criminals and reducing crime rates.

Selective incapacitation advocated incarcerating chronic and potentially chronic offenders for long periods of time. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

Deterrence
The goal of deterrence is to put an end to future criminal actions.
Deterrence is accomplished on two levels:
General Deterrence pursues the goal of discouraging potential offenders through punishment of criminal offenders.
make punishment swift and certain to discourage the criminal behavior of others.
Specific Deterrence presumes that once punished, the offender will not return to criminal activity because the punishment experience has been swift and severe. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

Rehabilitation
Emphasizes the treatment of the offender rather than the punishment of the act.

The behavior of the offender must be altered and modified to the extent that he or she will go back into society and live a meaningful, productive and law-abiding life.

Probation, parole, drug treatment, group counseling programs, vocational and educational programs, and juvenile court are examples of programs related to the rehabilitation purpose of corrections. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

Community-Based Correctional Strategies
Diversion
The offender avoids formal processing by the criminal justice system if the individual agrees to participate in an alternative program.
The alternative program may be treatment, counseling, educational or other programs designed to affect the behavior. It is in the best interest of the offender and the community to avoid formal prosecution of the case.
Juvenile offenders, drug offenders or the mentally ill who have committed minor offenses are candidates for diversion. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

2. Probation
Probation is an alternative to incarceration that is imposed by the Court.

The offender is allowed to remain in the community under supervision with conditions given by the Court.

Probation allows the offender to support dependents, make restitution, maintain employment, or attend treatment programs. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

3. Intermediate sanctions
Punishments that fall in severity between prison and probation.
These programs are more restrictive than probation but less severe and less expensive than prison.
Sanctions include intensive probation, electronic monitoring, home confinement, and shock incarceration.
Sanctions are characterized by small caseload sizes, intensive surveillance and supervision, community service, restitution, curfews, and electronic monitoring.
The main purposes for the creation of these programs were:
to relieve prison overcrowding
to reduce prison costs. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

4. Parole
Discretionary parole is the original early release program.

It allows the inmate to be released from prison prior to the completion of his or her term.

Once released under the supervision of parole officers, the parolee must abide by conditions of parole and will be subject to revocation if the terms of release are not followed. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

D. Unresolved Issues Related to Community-Based Correctional Programs
Stacking of punishments
Associated with intermediate sanctions, this is imposing a number of different sanctions or punishments on the offender.
An offender may be given 1 year of Jail time, 3 years of intensive probation, followed by 10 years of regular probation.
The offender is subject to monetary assessments including fine, supervision fees, and/or restitution.
None of the punishments are stand-alone but are given in conjunction with other punishments. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

Net-widening
Net-widening is targeting someone for treatment or control that would not otherwise be targeted.
Austin & Krisberg (1982) suggest that many correctional alternatives such as diversion programs and intermediate sanctions have unintended consequences:
The alternative increases the number of people under state control. These people would not have been subject to control. (Wider Nets)
The alternative increases the state’s control over more
people. (Stronger Nets)
Alternatives shift the control from one agency to another. (Different nets) Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

3. Severity of these punishments.
Community-based corrections are viewed as too lenient for offenders who have committed serious crimes.
To convince a skeptical public that the justice system is tough on crime and criminals, criminal justice agencies may impose a number of very strict requirements on the offenders’ behavior including curfews, random drug tests, and intensive surveillance. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

4. Bias in the selection process
Programs are viewed as promoting a racial/ethnic and social class bias in the selection process.
African American and Hispanic offenders are more likely to be incarcerated and less likely to be selected for participation in community–based corrections programs.
BJS correctional data (2012):
Federal and state incarceration:
Whites – 33%
Blacks – 36% (Comprise 13% U.S. population)
Hispanics – 22% (Comprise 15% of the U.S. population) Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

Probation populations
Whites – 54%
Blacks – 31%
Hispanics - 13%

Parole populations
Whites – 41%
Blacks – 40%
Hispanics -17%
c. Middle class offenders are more likely to be selected for a community based program because they are usually employed, can pay restitution, and have family support. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

d. Unintentional bias may result in minority and lower class offenders being excluded.
Decision-makers select those perceived to be the best candidates to succeed in those programs.
African-American and Hispanic males are less skilled, less educated, unemployed and less stable economically. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

RECAP AND REVIEW
The Corrections System is an important sub-system of the Criminal Justice System; it carries out the sentence that has been given by the Court.
 The numbers of offenders supervised in the community continue to increase each year. The majority of those supervised in the community are on probation and/or parole.
 Community corrections programs manage and supervise offenders in the community in order to reduce prison overcrowding.
Prevention of crime emphasizes rehabilitation of the offender and deterrence of future criminal behavior. Probation, parole, juvenile court, and counseling programs are examples of rehabilitation programs.
Community corrections strategies include probation, parole, intermediate sanctions, diversion and early release programs. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

Community corrections programs have often been criticized for “net-widening” that refers to giving some form of social control to an offender who would not otherwise be a part of the system. The program increases the state’s formal control over more people.

Community corrections programs have been criticized for being too lenient on convicted offenders and promoting a race/ethnic, and class bias in the selection process for these programs. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS
Question #1
Advocates of selective incapacitation argue that we should identify potentially chronic offenders by criminal history, employment history, and substance abuse history and incarcerate them for long periods of time to reduce crime. Other argues that this promotes labeling which could lead to more criminal behavior. Are labeling theorists correct? Does labeling potential chronic offenders as such and incarcerating them for an extended period lead to more criminal behavior?
 
 Question #2
How would you respond to the following statement?
Community corrections programs are liberal solutions which do little to punish the offender and control and reduce crime. These programs treat criminals too leniently and are not effective in reducing crime and protecting society. Therefore, our policies must be driven by efforts to control crime through the effective use of punishment and not concerns for rehabilitation of the offender. We must get tough on crime and criminals. What is your position on this subject? Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

KEY TERMS
Determinate sentencing - The type of sentence that is fixed at the time of sentencing. Flat sentences and mandatory sentences are types of determinate sentences
 
Deterrence - The theory that advocates punishment to discourage offenders from illegal behavior by making punishment swift, certain and severe.
 
Flat-time sentences - Sentences where the length of the sentence is fixed by law and cannot be changed by the trial judge or the parole board. Judges have no discretion; the offender serves the entire sentence minus any “good time” built into the sentence. Under this sentencing structure, the inmate will "max out"

 Indeterminate sentencing - A sentence where there is a minimum and maximum. The sentence is not fixed, but there is flexibility in the time of release. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

Net-widening - A concept that suggests that alternatives to incarceration may increase the number of offenders under correctional supervision rather than diverting them out of the criminal justice system.

Parole - Releasing an inmate from prison prior to the expiration of the sentence. The inmate serves the remainder of the sentence in the community under the supervision of the paroling agency.
 
Probation - The practice of suspending the sentence to leave the offender in the community under the supervision with conditions to follow. Violation of court ordered conditions may result in the revocation of the conditional release.
 
Mandatory sentence - The required sentence that a person must serve; the judge has no discretion and is not allowed to suspend the sentence. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

Rehabilitation - The goal of punishment that emphasizes the treatment and reform of offenders.
 
Sanction stacking - The tendency to sentence the offender to a number of different punishments so that punishments are stacked. This has been a criticism of intermediate sanctions.

Selective incapacitation - The policy that targets the small group of chronic offenders for long prison terms. As a result, crime rates would decrease. Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved.<br>

Copyright © 2024 Carolina Academic Press, LLC. All rights reserved. To request the full set of slides, please send proof of adoption to Beth Hall at bhall@cap-press.com. This can be a copy of your syllabus listing the book as required or a copy of the form you filled out for the university bookstore.<br>