Building Up Your Knowledge

Some observers view residential community-based sanctions as the ‘last stop’ before institutional confinement. More supervision-oriented than other alternative sanctions, these penalties have in common a residential component that removes the criminal offender from their homes for a period of time while simultaneously allowing for at least a modicum of community interaction (via day trips, as in the case of juvenile boot camps, or for regular employment, as in the case of work release centers). By keeping the offender out of prison or jail, the deleterious effects of incarceration are avoided while time spent fulfilling the sanction can be focused on improvements to the offender’s life.

Residential community-based sanctions (sometimes referred to as ‘intermediate sanctions’) have broad appeal to justice system personnel, policymakers, the public, and sometimes even to offenders. Presented below are common arguments advocating expanded use of intermediate sanctions for various types of offenders, the major forms of residential community-based sanctions, and the evaluations of and politics surrounding such sanctions.

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