Chapter 1

Correctional treatment can be divided in two elements;

a. Secured Confinement or Institutionalized Corrections; and
b. Community-Based Programs or Non-Institutional Corrections
Community Corrections covers a wide variety of punishment imposed without removal of
the offender from his area of residence and employment, if any. The crux of community
corrections is supervision in the community. Community-based corrections is a
supervised program dealing with people who have been convicted or are facing
conviction.

It is a non-incarceration system of correction. Include probation, which involves offender

supervision under the control of the sentencing court, and an array of intermediate
sanctions, in the form of programs that provide greater supervision and treatment than
the "traditional", but are less intrusive than imprisonment.

Treatment in the community is viewed as a variable alternative to traditional correctional

practices. First, it is significantly less expensive to supervise inmates (PDL) in the
community than to house them in secure institutional facilities. Second, community-
based corrections are necessary if the prison system is not to be overwhelmed by an
influx of offenders. Third, community-based treatment is designed so that first-time or
non-serious offenders can avoid the stigma and pains of imprisonment and be
rehabilitated in the community.

One of the basic principles underlying community-based corrections is minimization of

the offender's contact with institutional incarceration. The emphasis moves away from the
dehumanizing and alienating effects of institutionalization and mandates avoidance of use
of jails, workhouses, and prisons to an extent consistent with the protection of society.

Modern community correctional programs are invariably "soft on crime" they focus too
much on rehabilitation, to the exclusion of punishment, deterrence and incapacitation.
Community Corrections mean the subfield of corrections in which offenders are supervised
and provided services outside jail or prison. For this season, community corrections are
sometimes referred to as non-institutional corrections.

1
2
3
4
5
6