What Are Intermediate Sanctions:
When Are They Used and Do They Keep Communities Safe?
Jackie Phillips
Criminology, Post University
CRJ331 – Community Corrections
Unit 5 Assignment: Intermediate Sanctions
Professor Terri Johnson
Due Date: 11:59 pm EST Sunday of Unit 5
In this assignment you will examine the Intermediate Sanctions and how they aid in the rehabilitation of offenders being supervised in the community.
For this assignment you will answer the following:
In your own words, what are “Intermediate Sanctions” and what is their purpose?
Examples of Intermediate sanctions can include intensive supervision probation, financial penalties, house arrest, intermittent confinement and incarceration, community service, work camps, electronic monitoring including GPS tracking, and treatment.
They are an alternative to jail and used along with Probation and help to give judges more flexibility when sentencing. They are more severe than unsupervised probation, but less restrictive than incarceration.
Some examples would be:
- “Intensive supervision probation (ISP): A more intense alternative to standard probation that involves increased interaction and oversight by probation officers
- Home confinement: With or without electronic monitoring
- Community service orders: Allow offenders to participate in the community during rehabilitation
- Prison boot camps: Also known as shock incarceration
- Day fines: Also known as monetary penalties
- Day reporting centers (DRCs): Also known as halfway houses” (Whitehead, S., 2022)
How do you feel that these sanctions aid in the rehabilitation of offenders being supervised in the community?
Whether the sanctions help or hinder the offenders is up to the choices of the offenders and whether they choose to accept the help and follow the rules and regulations.
For example, if the offender is required to attend rehab for drugs or alcohol due to their crime being related to drugs or alcohol, then it is up to the offender to attend these classes. Their rehabilitation will improve if they attend the classes and if they don’t attend the classes, then their rehab will be stalled.
The more choices that an offender has to help them entering back into society, the better their chances of starting over. In addition, it allows the offender to see the difference between being in prison and working on their rehabilitation outside. The threat of returning to prison can be a huge motivator to anyone.
In addition, the protection of the community is important, and these sanctions must provide both rehabilitation to the offender and protection to the community.
“Intermediate sanctions were developed for offenders whose crimes were not serious enough for incarceration, but who merited a punishment harsher than ordinary probation. The stated objectives of intermediate sanctions are to provide cost-effective alternatives to incarceration, deter offenders, protect the community, and rehabilitate offenders. Detractors claim that intermediate sanctions also create an appearance of correctional reform, institute a mechanism for reclaiming limited resources for parole and probation, and provide administrators with a response to the more punitive orientation of the public.” (Byrne J., Lurigio AJ., Petersilia J., 1992)
I do believe that juveniles should be treated differently with their sanctions and that their sanctions should not equal those of adult offenders. Rather than prison, rehabilitation should focus on education and job training, counseling and therapy and community service geared toward undeveloped bodies and minds that have a better chance of changing and improving than adults set in their ways.
“Rehabilitation programs can help juveniles develop a sense of hope and a positive outlook for the future. Through rehabilitation programs, juveniles can gain the skills, education, and support they need to succeed, which can help them develop a sense of hope and a positive outlook for their future.” (Walsh K., 2023)
References
Byrne J., Lurigio AJ., Petersilia J., 1992, Office of Justice Programs, Smart Sentencing: The Emergence of Intermediate Sanctions, https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/smart-sentencing-emergence-intermediate-sanctions
Walsh K., 2023, Law Offices of Katie Walsh, The Benefits of Rehabilitation Programs for Juvenile Offenders in Orange County, https://www.katiewalshlaw.com/blog/the-benefits-of-rehabilitation-programs-for-juvenile-offenders-in-orange-county/
Whitehead, S., 2022, Oxford Bibliographies, Intermediate Sanctions, https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195396607/obo-9780195396607-0323.xml#:~:text=The%20primary%20forms%20of%20intermediate,purpose%20in%20penalizing%20an%20offender
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