Lesson 4: Residential Community-Based Sanctions

Lesson Overview

This lesson examines the category of community-based sanctions that occur in a controlled setting or location other than a correctional institution. Such an environment enhances the supervisory aspect of the sanction while simultaneously the controlled environment facilitates treatment regimens prescribed for individual offenders. Examples of these sanctions include halfway houses, boot camps, and work release facilities. Discussed within the lesson are empirical assessments of the efficacy of the various sanctions as well as the political issues that surround residential community-based sanctions. It concludes with directions for the future and the plausibility of expanding non-institutional treatment and supervision.

Lesson Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

• Differentiate between the various intermediate residential community-based sanctions available; 
• Evaluate the successes and failures of various community-based strategies such as halfway houses, boot camps, and work release centers.
• Describe the political issues that surround residential community-based correctional programs.

Igniting Your Thoughts

Readings

• Read Chapter 8 in Alarid, Cromwell, del Carmen's Community-Based Corrections.
• Read the article below on the concept of "boot camps" for juvenile offenders on the Boot Camps for Troubled Teens Web site <http://www.boot-camp-boot-camps.com/>
  

Reflection

After reading the article on "boot camps," consider the following questions: Do you see the widespread application of this sanction as wise investment of juvenile justice funds? Why or why not? What factors make boot camps a popular initiative for policymakers and the public? Are there other alternatives that could potentially achieve the same ends, but with differing means? Go to the course blog site: http://www.personal.psu.edu/dch18/blogs/CRIMJ430/. Read the Lesson 4 Boot Camps blog entry, click on Comments and post your thoughts. Read your classmates' comments and add more comments for further discussions. The article is exerpted from http://www.boot-camp-boot-camps.com/ Brat Camps Whoever would’ve guessed that watching a bunch of unruly, disrespectful “brats” would be considered entertainment?! From the UK to the United States, viewers are glued to their televisions, watching the adventures, battles and emotional breakdowns of a group of teens that need a quick dose of reality in the new TV series "Brat Camps." Brat camps are very similar to wilderness programs and some of them closely resemble the juvenile boot camps that have grown in popularity. Brat camps are considered by many to be good options for teens that have early signs of problems but have not become firmly attached to negative influences and bad behavior. However, teens that have developed bad habits over a long period of time would benefit more from long-term options that range from 12-18 months. Long-term options have the ability to replace bad habits with positive, constructive habits that will benefit the teen throughout their lives. Boot Camp Overview Started as an alternative to jail for juvenile adolescents, there are several types of teen boot camps from state run to privately run where the teen will be mentally and physically challenged. These facilities can be a starting place for getting your teen help. In both the state and private environment the camps goal is to scare kids straight generally only giving a good short-term solution. Parents often seek out boot camps with the assumption that a "wake up call" is all that is needed for their troubled teen. Boot camps for troubled teens are often short-term, however, long-term boot camps have increased in popularity for their ability to help defiant adolescents improve their behavior at home and school. They are modeled after military-style, military exercises, and intense physical training focusing on reality, respect and responsibility. Many teens lack these qualities, yet they desperately need them in order to successfully transition into adulthood. This experience can help teens replace destructive attitudes and behaviors with new perspectives and direction in their lives. The theology behind a short-term camp being that a "quick reality check" will turn a child around who has been acting out. These boot camp style programs are usually ineffective for teens that have developed bad habits over a long period of time and are in need of long term change. What is it like to be in a Teen Boot Camp? A true teen boot camp will include uniforms, marching in formation as well as a "yes sir" and "no sir" mentality. They will include a very structured environment that includes the trainers getting right in the face of the cadet. Barracks will be similar to those in the U.S. Military's "basic training" program and will be authentic in areas including bunk beds, foot lockers and a very strict, no holds barred system of inspections that must be completed without error if the teen is to survive the ordeal, even for a short period of time. Whether a child is able to handle this type of environment is actually a question that must be considered before a parent puts a struggling teen in the midst of these intense drill instructors and within the environment that does not permit any outside contact for a prescribed period of time. Parents should consider more than just if the cadet can survive. They should consider whether juvenile boot camps are the right choice for a troubled teen. It is clear that teens with behavioral problems that are beyond the scope of these environments should not be considered for teen boot camps. Do Boot Camps Work? These types of programs are designed as a quick fix and may help a struggling teen with respect, obedience and appreciation. However, they are not a good long term option for teens that need help. Recidivism rates suggest that they are not a good solution for long term change. Health and Safety Issues Health and Safety of your teen should be considered when choosing a juvenile boot camp. Boot camps have come under fire recently with health and safety issues. Some may attempt to push a child too much or may be too extreme with their in-your-face approach. Many choose to use too many military drill instructor techniques. While the drill sergeant may have success with military basic training cadets who have voluntarily gone to boot camp, ex-drill sergeants may be ineffective with a struggling teen who is not as motivated as someone enrolled in the military.

 

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.

Please choose different topics to review.

Use of Intermediate Sanctions

1. Residential community-based sanctions are a better way to treat and rehabilitate offenders. The negative impact of imprisonment on offenders is widely documented. Traditional incarceration does little to improve the life situation of the offender and long stints behind bars are negatively correlated with the likelihood that an inmate will lead a productive, law-abiding life upon release. Intermediate sanctions provide a supervised environment that better facilitates the administration of treatment options while eliminating the stigma of prior incarceration.

2. Residential community-based sanctions require effort and productivity on the part of the offender. Programs such as boot camps and work release centers eliminate a great deal of the ‘idle time’ associated with incarceration by coupling full days of work or activity with educational and self-improvement programming after the day is completed.

3. Residential community-based sanctions are a cost effective alternative to imprisonment. While more costly than other community-based sanctions such as probation or community service, the expenditure for an offender in residential treatment is less than that for an offender in a traditional secure facility. Even if cost savings are not substantial, the benefits associated with non-institutional sanctions (i.e. reductions in recidivism, restitution to victims) are seen by many to offset the associated costs.

4. Residential community-based sanctions are seen as ‘punitive’ for offenders while at the same time being productive. Many Americans favor incarceration because of the perceived punishment (or ‘just desserts’) that offenders receive by having certain of their liberties removed. These same citizens then are critical of correctional systems because inmates ‘sit around getting 3 meals a day and a roof over their heads’ funded by tax dollars. By requiring inmates to be employed or to otherwise provide some service to society (i.e. trash pickup along highways, cleaning public facilities) the public is mollified to some degree because inmates are 'earning their keep.'

5. For the most part, policy makers support residential community-based sanctions because they allow politicians to be simultaneously ‘tough on crime’ and fiscally responsible. By directing a portion of those convicted of offenses each year away from incarceration and to an alternative sanction, politicians are, to a degree, using evidence provided by criminologists and public policy scholars advocating the decreased use of imprisonment. At the same time, by being proponents of 'tough' penalties, lawmakers stay in the good graces of their citizenry, a majority of which support harsher penalties for criminal offenders.
   

Major Forms of Residential Community-Based Sanctions

1. Boot camps are a form of so-called ‘shock incarceration’ whereby the offender gets a sample of what life in a correctional institution is like and then embarks on a period of community supervision. Boot camps take the idea a step further by incorporating a military basic training model at the beginning of the supervision period, geared specifically toward younger offenders at risk of entering prison if their unlawful behavior were to continue. At some level, boot camps are intended to instill a notion of self-discipline and hard work into the lives of these offenders that will carry over once they reenter their community structures. Many of these programs also incorporate educational programs, therapy, and treatment options for offenders with specific issues in their backgrounds, as well as aftercare alternatives for participants once they leave the program. The concept has been utilized for a quarter of a century and has spawned programs in virtually every jurisdiction, although some are no longer in use.

2. Halfway Houses are residential facilities for probationers (‘Halfway In’), parolees (‘Halfway Out’) or a combination of both. They provide a structured, supervised environment that serves as an alternative to imprisonment for certain offenders or as a transitional step for prison inmates before returning to society full time. Whatever category the resident falls under, the halfway setting serves as a treatment based setting for offenders, eases overcrowding of correctional facilities, and provides additional supervision for offenders not well suited to traditional probation. These facilities can serve a general mission or have a specialized purpose (i.e. substance abuse treatment) and can vary in size as well.

3. Work Release Centers are similar to halfway houses with the exception that offenders leave the facility on their own during specified hours to work or attend school. The offenders populating such facilities have usually been convicted of minor offenses and were employed or enrolled in school prior to their convictions. Residents are required to be in the center when not working or in class and the facilities offer programming similar to that found in a halfway house (i.e. twelve step programs, faith-based seminars, etc.).

4. Restitution Centers are again similar to halfway houses but have a specific mission of accepting offenders who owe fines or restitution. The focus of these facilities is on stable employment so that an offender’s financial obligations can be satisfied. Once offenders have fulfilled these obligations, they are eligible for release from the program. While treatment regimens are sometimes available, they are usually not a point of emphasis.

5. Residential Drug and Alcohol Treatment Centers are either privately or publicly funded facilities that specialize in treatment for offenders sentenced for drug- or alcohol-related crimes. While very similar in form to other types of residential treatment facilities, these programs often carry the caveat of imprisonment if an offender fails to complete a prescribed course of treatment.

 

Evaluations of and Politics Surrounding Residential Community-Based Sanctions

As alluded to earlier in the lesson, residential community-based sanctions generally receive a fair amount of popular support because of their cost effectiveness and onus of responsibility placed upon the offender. In fact, this support may be primarily responsible for the continuance of a number of programs even in the face of empirical evidence demonstrating a lack of effectiveness.

Criticism of Boot Camps

In the case of boot camps, an initial criticism from juvenile advocates was that as these programs grew at a rapid pace, more juveniles would be 'caught in the net,' so to speak, in order to fill open slots in new boot camp initiatives. Another criticism was that the removal of offenders (either adult or juvenile) was unnecessary as their sentences could’ve been served out under traditional probation supervision with similar outcomes being observed and at a lesser cost. Such removal, it is argued, is a further stigmatization by the criminal justice system that is unwarranted and could have detrimental ramifications further down the line.

The arguments against boot camps, however, are most compelling when one takes into account empirical data on behavioral change post program participation. A number of studies show that juvenile boot camp graduates recidivate, are rearrested and incarcerated at about the same rates as those offenders who serve terms of probation or are placed in traditional placements such as a youth detention center. There has been much academic discussion over the years as to how to interpret these results, what the appropriate outcome measure of the programs should be, etc. However, while declining in number from the peak years of boot camp programming, the sanction remains popular in a number of jurisdictions. Proponents of boot camps point out differences on offenders’ outlooks and attitudes that are harder to quantifiably measure. It is said that boot camps have taken on more ‘hard cases’ that would be difficult to ‘turn around’ using traditional correctional or treatment methods. As the debate goes on, the use of boot camps for both adults and juveniles has been on the decline for some time as policymakers look to other alternatives with a better track record of changing offenders.

Resisitance to Other Residential Treatments

Other forms of residential treatment, excepted perhaps for those that have been long established in communities, receive lesser support from the public, especially from citizens who reside in neighborhoods containing such facilities. It is a difficult proposition to open a new residential treatment center, as even discussion of such a possibility brings out a chorus of 'Not in My Backyard.' As a result, expansion of such facilities is limited by citizen activism and blockage by political entities such as zoning boards. Many facilities, if they do get approval to begin operations, do so in less desirable neighborhoods and in sub-standard structures requiring extensive rehabilitation. In Pennsylvania there is an infamous story regarding a methadone treatment facility for convicted heroin offenders that could not get the ‘OK’ to open in any municipality in an entire metro area and ended up opening in an impoverished urban center over 30 miles from the population it targeted. Curiously, this public opposition is based primarily on conjecture and supposition, as there is virtually no empirical evidence demonstrating an increase in crime or declining property values attributable to the presence of a residential treatment center of any mission.

Exploring Resources

External Resources

• http://www.juvenile-boot-camps.com/

  Link to a private provider of juvenile boot camp programs, contracting with municipalities to accept youths adjudicated delinquent as well as with parents or guardians who believe their child would benefit from such an experience.

• http://www.johnhoward.ab.ca/PUB/halfway.htm

Link to a concise history and overview of halfway houses. Provided by the John Howard Society, an offender advocacy group which works to further the appropriate use of community-based sanctions.

• http://realcostofprisons.org/blog/archives/2007/01/pa_area_prisons.html

A link discussing the effectiveness and efficacy of methadone maintenance treatment.

• http://www.hawaii.edu/hivandaids/Beliefs%20About%20Methadone%20in%20an%20Inner%20City%20Methadone%20Clinic.pdf

An Article from Journal of Urban Health: Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine discussing beliefs about methadone in an inner-city methadone clinic.

Applying Your Knowledge

[Don, please write up a paragraph of summary to be consitent with the lesson structure?]

 

Position Papers

1. Suppose plans have been unveiled to open a residential treatment facility for offenders with backgrounds that include substance abuse and/or mental health issues in your neighborhood. Draft a letter to your local government body that decides the issue (i.e., board of supervisors, city council, selectmen, etc.) and give your opinion on such a plan. Thoroughly detail your position and defend your assertions with empirical evidence where possible.


2. Submit the letter to the Lesson 4 Residential Treatment Facility Letter dropbox.