Pros And Cons Of Community Corrections

When the English common law emerged, it stated that the King had the ultimate authority over children, and; thus, children were seen as assets. Throughout centuries, children were considered “little adults,” and “property,” therefore, exploitation of children as laborers was a customary occurrence. This labor was considered a necessity among families who were in severe poverty (Davin, 2008).

During colonial times, children were considered “property of the parents,” (Hinton, Sims, Adams, & West, 2007), therefore, parents were allowed to “classify their children as stubborn and seek state punishment, including capital punishment” (Hinton, Sims, Adams, & West, 2007). The critical issue that arose with that was that children were no longer viewed

Community corrections programs are therefore frequently used as a method to reduce the overall percentage of the prison populations. These programs offer supervision that “oversee offenders outside of jail or prison, and are administered by agencies or courts with the legal authority to enforce sanctions” at a significantly lower cost than incarceration (Community Corrections (Probation and Parole), 2015). Although statistics vary, it is believed that approximately two-thirds of the people who could be incarcerated for a crime or offense committed, are actually given a positive alternative option. Typically the people who are given the opportunity to partially or completely bypass incarceration are non-violent offenders who in the long run will be better off if he/she is handled thorough a community corrections program (Alarid, Cromwell, & Del Carmen,

Parole, as defined by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, “refers to criminal offenders who are conditionally released from prison to serve the remaining portion of their sentence in the community” (Terms & Definitions: Corrections, 2014). On the other hand, the Bureau of Justice Statistics states that “probation refers to adult offenders whom courts place on supervision in the community through a probation agency, generally in lieu of incarceration” (Terms & Definitions: Corrections, 2014). Regardless of their similarities and/or differences, both of these serve as a valuable alternative to incarceration. The impact of community correction programs such as probation and parole minimize recidivism without the need of rehabilitation or reintegration