The Comprehensive Crime Control Act
There are currently five million Americans in the criminal justice system that are under community supervision like probation or parole (Walshe, 2012). This equates to approximately 1 in 45 adults. This is nearly double the incarcerated prison population. In 1984, the Comprehensive Crime Control Act, among other things, made probation a stand-alone sentence. This means that probation was no longer only a post-release condition. An offender can now be sentenced to probation with no jail time to accompany it.
The policy also defined minimum terms and conditions of probation. Regardless of offense, all offenders sentenced to probation are subject to a minimum of two drug screens. Failure of a drug screen …show more content…
Though unsupervised probation is an option, it is rarely a viable option for an offender. Only people who are able to pay all fines and court costs on or before the sentencing are eligible to be unsupervised. The offenders on probation at Pathways are sentenced to probation anywhere from 30 days to 11 months and 29 days. If jail time is a required condition, time served is subtracted from the probation sentence. The offenders are required to take drug screens randomly, and are unaware of which reporting day will result in a screen. If an offender violates his or her probation for any reason, they also have to take a drug screen on the day they are to be seen by the judge for said violation. Offenders convicted of theft are subject to fines and court costs, as well at the restitution to the victim which is added in to the fees and paid directly to Pathways. Pathways then makes a payment to the victim on behalf of the …show more content…
One of the purposes of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 was “to address the seemingly intractable problem of unwarranted sentencing disparity.” The point was to provide fairness in sentencing while still ensuring that each offender was sentenced based on the specifics of his or her own case. The purposes of criminal sentences are listed in the act as just punishment, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation. Congress lists several factors and offender characteristics that must be taken into consideration when imposing a sentence. The factors are offense seriousness, aggravating circumstances, nature and degree of harm, public concern, likelihood of achieving deterrence, and offense frequency. The offender characteristics include age, education, vocational skills, mental and emotional condition, physical condition, drug dependency, employment record, family ties, role in the offense, and criminal