Community Corrections Paper

1498 Words3 Pages

This paper explores the effectiveness of community correction programs that are practiced within the U.S. criminal justice system and the effects those methods have on offenders and the communities in which they live. Additionally, this paper will describe the reason that the judge’s decision to sentence an offender to community-based corrections instead of sentencing them to prison or jail. For example, our jails and prison are overcrowded and one way to help the overcrowding would be community based correction programs. The cost to house an inmate is much more expensive than the cost of supervising a offender on probation and you will avoid the effects of incarceration. The intentionality behind being sentenced to community based programs …show more content…

During the 2000s, there were only two correctional populations under community supervision. Those were people on probation instead of going to prison and then you had the people who were on parole or some other type of supervision after having completed time in prison. Probation is usually operated by the county, where the judge suspends a prison sentence. That means if the offender fails to follow the instructions for release, then they could be incarcerated by the state for the entire sentence. When talking about parole, or other types of early releases from prison, offenders have served majority of their sentence, and the early release program is used to make sure that there is a smooth transition to the outside under the supervision of a professional.
Both probation and parole serve pretty much the same purpose. One tends to control, while the other tends to seek to improve the offender. Probation officers dictate where the offender is allowed to go, or what he or she is allowed to do. With parole officers they outline expectations for getting an education and going to counseling programs, having family support and just living a substance-free …show more content…

The court could find ways based on the offender’s history and the severity of the offense. In order to compensate, offenders are able to pay a fine to a victims’ fund to they are able to pay a fund to the court to offset trial expenses. They can also pay supervision fees or they are able to do community service to save them from having to pay anything. They are also sometime required to report to their probation officer daily, taking unannounced drug tests on random day throughout the week, and they are to be seen in their homes by an officer making unannounced visits. Higher risked offenders could be placed on an electric monitoring device or be places on house arrest. The most important and required things that offenders have to do it get a job. Offenders can be restricted from the types of jobs they are allowed to

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