Publications from ODSW Social Insights: Letters by DSW (Vol 1) | Page 92
Re-entry and Integration
tentative. A study1 released in January 2014 by the Urban Institute examined
17 states, testing an approach called Justice Reinvestment - reducing prison
costs and putting some of the savings into alternatives. But the jury is still
out from a pure research point of view even after decades of experiments
about what works. This is partly because of the lack of control groups, lack of
sustained experimentation and impatience in wanting to try out yet another
strategy. Despite these qualifiers, there are several broad strategies that
seem promising.
Revisiting Sentencing
America which has been tough-on-crime has in more recent years began to
revisit sentencing. We see them in some instances, stepping back from the
three-strikes law, mandatory minimum sentences and the requirement that
prisoners serve a minimum portion (often 85 percent) of their sentence in
lockup. It is evident that the length of imprisonment has had modest effect
on crime rate and that there are other considerations in tackling crime rate.
Revisiting Supervision to avoid a revolving door
There was beginning appreciation that probation and parole with good
casework was helpful. This was especially so when it came to developing
a helping relationship beyond supervising the probationer or parolee on
violations of conditions. The aim in some areas is for parole and probation
to be less of a revolving door back to prison. In some areas, the focus is
on offenders who are considered most likely to commit crimes and to work
harder with these cases. They use technology (ankle bracelets with GPS,
etc) as part of the supervision. The approach is to respond promptly with a
punishment for missing an interview or failing a drug test. The punishments
start small and escalate until the offender gets the message and changes his
behaviour, preferably before he has to be sent back to prison. Some will see
this as basically applying the principles of parenting to probation.
1 The Urban Institute. (2014, Jan). Justice Reinvestment Initiative State Assessment Report.
Retrieved from http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/412994-Justice-Reinvestment-InitiativeState-Assessment-Report.pdf
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