Sensible Justice: Alternatives to Prison

An estimated three million convicts are under probation, the most widely imposed criminal sanction for nonviolent inmates, with just 1.6 million incarcerated in prisons, according to Anderson, a former Wall Street Journal editor, who has surveyed prison alternatives, including programs that attempt to provide restitution to victims. Among the alternatives are house arrest, in which convicts are subject to electronic monitoring such as a radio transmitter locked on the ankle, drug treatment centers with stringent supervision under a probation officer and boot camp. Community service sentences have been extensively mandated by states with large urban populations since the 1980s, a punishment the author considers more punitive than traditional probation, but less punitive than incarceration and more productive for both the probationer and society. Studies on the effectiveness of such programs to stem recidivism are scanty, the author notes. Nonetheless, all such programs, except boot camp, are significantly less costly to maintain than prisons, and Anderson would like to see state jurisdictions adopt these alternatives. His research into programs around the country shore up his arguments, and his book will prove interesting to those in criminal justice, although general readers may find his writing dry. (Jan.)