Probation & Prison Overcrowding

One result of all of this activity were new sentencing guidelines that mandated prison time for more types of offensesand which also lengthened prison stays. While the politicians were getting tough on crime, however, the politicians and citizensfrom Presidents Reagan and Bush right on down to local politicians and citizens voting in bond electionsneglected in some cases and refused in more cases to increase spending on incarceration facilities at the levels required to meet the increasing demand. The outcome, predictably, was prison overcrowding.

Some jurisdictions, in attempts to deal with the problem of prison overcrowding, adopted liberal probation in lieu of incarceration policies for adult nonviolent offenders. Such policies have not always worked as intended, however, because some classes of nonviolent offendersnotably drug offenders

were excluded from probation programs. In 1992 as an example, 30 percent of the p

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often creates a situation for the individuals concerned where they are "robbing Peter to pay Paul."25 In recognition of this problem, many states have established payment priority hierarchies. Most jurisdictions place parole and probation fees in a range from the middle to the bottom of the list of applicable payments. The several states which have adopted programs requiring convicted persons to pay a proportion of the administrative costs associated with their paroles and probations have adopted a variety of payment structures. Some states establish a flat fee level. Others provide a range (most often from $10 to $50 per month), from which the presiding judge is permitted to set the fee level. California requires that presiding judges "determine defendants' ability to pay all or a portion of the reasonable cost . . ., provided that the reasonable cost does not exceed the actual average cost . . ." of administering parole or probation.26 Massachusetts requires that convicted persons on parole or probation pay a monthly supervision fee "equal to not less than one day's net wages nor more than three days' net wages."27 The Massachusetts approach is based solely on the ability to pay principle. Therefore, in Massachusetts, i
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Approximate Word count = 5644
Approximate Pages = 23 (250 words per page)

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