Word: prisoners
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...corrections officer. There were three other weekly meetings, with restrictions eased as his time in the program increased. Living at home, as he was required to do for 2 1/2 years, Rusich cost the state $8.72 a day, less than a third the expense of keeping him in prison. The experience was a "lifesaver," says Rusich, who is now on parole...
...halfway house where offenders must live out their sentences. The system allows them to work, often at jobs found by the local government, but maintains more of the trappings of confinement, such as dormitory life and security checks. In Indiana, where there are ten such centers, offenders do prison time first, with the hope of work release as a carrot for good behavior. That method lets the state consider, through observation and psychological testing, which inmates are likely to succeed in the program. "We want to see how they'll perform," says Vaughn Overstreet of the department of corrections...
...most low-tech deterrent of all: shame. Sarasota County, Fla., is trying the "scarlet letter" approach, by requiring motorists convicted of drunk driving to paste bumper stickers on their cars announcing the fact. In Lincoln County, Ore., a few felons have even been given a choice between prison and publishing written apologies, accompanied by their photographs, in local newspapers. Roger Smith, 29, paid $294.12 to announce his contrition in two papers after a guilty plea growing out of a theft charge. A published apology "takes the anonymity out of crime," insists Ulys Stapleton, Lincoln County district attorney. "People...
...measure to keep a rein on people who would otherwise go free in plea bargains. James K. Stewart, director of a Justice Department research institute, contends that the cost to society of crimes committed by those not imprisoned must be factored in as well. For certain offenders, Stewart concludes, "prison can be a real, real cheap alternative...
...goal is a society with fewer criminals, then firm judgments are even harder to draw. Criminology is a dispiriting science. Its practitioners commonly caution that no criminal sanction, no matter how strict, no matter how lenient, seems to have much impact on the crime rate. But prison does at least keep criminals off the street. Home confinement cannot guarantee that security. Some data, tentative and incomplete, do suggest, however, that felons placed on intensive probation are less likely to commit crimes again than those placed on traditional probation or sent to prison. Joan Petersilia, a Rand Corp. researcher, says...