Intermediate Sanctions Case Study

Intermediate sanctions are used a lot in a lot of scenarios like house arrest, remote location monitoring and Intensive Supervision Probation or parole. It is used for more punitive and restrictive monitoring. It could be used in the middle of court proceedings like if the court does not want to lose a suspect, that suspect could be in house arrest. The use of electronic monitoring is appealing due to lower jail/prison overcrowding, expensive to do but better results, and easier to do. Offenders are given intermediate sanctions under some form of probation supervision (Bayens and Smykla). Every state except New Hampshire has some form of electronic monitoring for juvenile defendants (Weisburd). Electronic monitoring is a tool that probation

The GPS group had a lower crime rate and reduced their chance of recidivism. The California study showed that the GPS monitoring was expensive. The monitoring parolees approximately costed “$35.96 a day” yet traditional supervision averaged about “$27.45 a day” (Bulman). Even though the amount is close, the long term approach proved the GPS costs a lot. The effectiveness of the GPS monitoring lowered the arrest rate by 12% for any offense. Since GPS sends data back to the officers in charge of the parolees. It reduced the caseload that each officer

The end goal of drug courts is for more healing and restorative means than normal courts. Drug courts integrate treatments, sanctions, incentives, and court appearances with case processing to give drug offenders rehabilitation programs. Completion of the treatment program results in the dismissal of charges, lesser penalties, or a combination. As of June 2014, there are over 3,400 drug courts in the United States. More than half are targeted to adults, offenders, and veterans. Other drug courts involve juveniles and child welfare (National Institute of Justice). The cost is to taxpayers or the government. The Kansas drug courts operate through fees, grants and other monies from the federal and local level. However, majority of the courts operate without state funds but some support does come through the Department of Corrections (National Center for State Courts). In cost per client, Shawnee County reported the cost for a client there is around $3,600. The impact of Drug courts helps reduce recidivism. In 1993, the first drug court had its first evaluation. In the evaluation, it showed that recidivism went down (National Institute of Justice). Drug courts also had significantly lowered costs for clients. The costs averagely $1,392 lower per drug court client. Using a “nonadversarial” approach, both the prosecution and defense counsel promote public safety while protecting