Research paper (Alternatives to Incarceration)

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A. fines, restitution and community service

(1) courts are supposed to impose sentencing that involves fines

(2) Misdemeanour crimes like trespassing, loitering, disorderly conduct to be given restitution and community service. (Kim, 2018)

(3) Judges are liable for sentencing offenders to pay fines, pay victims the restitutes and carry out some community services in any of the combinations

a. In restitution, the victim is paid for financial losses that were incurred following the crime.

i. This involves the costs of replacing property.

ii. Medical costs

iii. Lost wages due to missed work.

B. Probation

Judges can decide to sentence defendants to either supervised or unsupervised probations. (Apfel, 2019).

(a) Supervised probation

(i) Reporting to any of the probation officers as directed.

(ii) Complying with curfew hours

(iii) Ensuring submission to random drug testing.

(iv) Possible treatment including counselling

(b) Unsupervised probation

(i) No new arrests take place.

(ii) The victim will not take drugs or alcohol.

(iii) They will have to obey all laws.

(iv) Defendants will not be allowed to leave the states of counties.

(v) The defendant will be supposed to follow the requirements without reporting to any probation officer.

(vi) This kind of probation is not common in misdemeanour cases. This is mainly for those offenders who have no criminal record.

C. House arrest

This involves offenders staying at their homes to serve their jail but being monitored by electronic methods. (Ryon, 2017).

i) The defendant should wear an electronic monitoring device while at home to facilitate monitoring. This is known as an "ankle bracelet" generally put in the ankle.

ii) The device ensures that the defendant does not move out of the permissible range.

iii) The range the defendant is allowed to move is usually their homes with a small surrounding around their homes.

iv) Employed defendants will have programmed devices to allow them to be in the places of work for certain hours within a day.

D. Inpatient drug or rehabilitation of alcohol

Courts allow some defendants, such as those with drug, alcohol or any psychiatric problem, to serve their terms in rehabilitation centres (Clark, 2017).

(1) The courts first approve programs as sentencing alternatives.

(2) The programs can either be sponsored by the churches or the states.

(3) Defendants are required to stay on-site to take part in counselling programs (Surprenant, 2017).

References

Kim, M. E. (2018). From carceral feminism to transformative justice: Women-of-color feminism and alternatives to incarceration. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 27(3), 219-233.

Clark, N., Dolan, K., & Farabee, D. (2017). Public health alternatives to incarceration for drug offenders. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, 23(3).

Ryon, S. B., Early, K. W., & Kosloski, A. E. (2017). Community-based and family-focused alternatives to incarceration: A quasi-experimental evaluation of interventions for delinquent youth. Journal of Criminal Justice, 51, 59-66.

Apfel, G. (2019). Remarks from Hon. Letitia James—Rewriting the Sentence: Summit on Alternatives to Incarceration. Federal Sentencing Reporter, 32(1).

Surprenant, C. W. (Ed.). (, 2017). Rethinking punishment in the era of mass incarceration (Vol. 93). Taylor & Francis.