Assessing the Effectiveness of Correctional Sanctions

Objectives

Despite the dramatic expansion of the US correctional system in recent decades, little is known about the relative effectiveness of commonly used sanctions on recidivism. The goal of this paper is to address this research gap, and systematically examine the relative impacts on recidivism of four main types of sanctions: probation, intensive probation, jail, and prison.

Methods

Data on convicted felons in Florida were analyzed and propensity score matching analyses were used to estimate relative effects of each sanction type on 3-year reconviction rates.

Results

Estimated effects suggest that less severe sanctions are more likely to reduce recidivism.

Conclusions

The findings raise questions about the effectiveness of tougher sanctioning policies for reducing future criminal behavior. Implications for future research, theory, and policy are also discussed.     

相对集中行政处罚的主体失范及模式转换

行政执法主体资格是实施行政处罚的核心问题之一。目前,集中行政处罚全部相关权力的模式容易造成集中处罚主体的失范,其解决之道在于转换集中行政处罚权的模式———以“行政分权”及“行政处罚司法化”为目标,向政府法制部门集中行政处罚决定权。     

Evidence on the Effectiveness of Juvenile Court Sanctions

Purpose

The past decade has been witness to a proliferation of calls for evidence-based juvenile court sanctions—including various programs, interventions, services, and strategies or approaches—that reduce recidivism and improve mental health, drug dependency, and education outcomes. At the same time, an emerging body of work has identified “proven,” “evidence-based,” “best practice,” or, more generally, “effective” efforts to achieve these outcomes. Even so, grounds for concern exist regarding the evidence-base for these and other sanctions.

Methods

This paper describes the heterogeneity of sanctioning within juvenile justice and argues that, despite substantial advances in research, the heterogeneity severely delimits the generalizability of evaluations to date. It also raises questions about how much is in fact known about the effectiveness of many juvenile justice sanctions.

Conclusion

Extant research offers grounds for optimism. Even so, explicit articulation of the limitations of this research and the need for studies that examine external validity is important for developing evidence about “what works” in juvenile justice. Implications for research and policy are discussed.     

The Hurried Justification of Sanctions

In this paper I try to see how the Derridean aporias of the law of the urgency of legal decisions (the law interrupts the input of knowledge in the decision-making process) and the épokhè of the rule (justice can never be done in the present) are revealed in the context of the justification of sanctions. I argue that sanctions can only be justified in a purposive manner in the last instance. They can only be means to an end of punishment which has been opted for, and which can be justified on grounds of principles, or an authoritative calculation of incommensurable entities. I argue against theories, which advocate the internal connection of law and morality, because if such a connection could be established, the aporia of the hurried and unjustified action would obviously disappear. In particular my target is discourse theory as formulated mainly by Robert Alexy with his Sonderfallthese(Special Case Thesis). My objection is that, because of their instrumental nature, sanctions cannot be justified on moral grounds. I also consider some objections that could be raised from Klaus Günther's theory of appropriateness and Habermas' distinction between the moral, ethical and pragmatic employments of practical reason. I am argue that the former, which would become relevant at the stage of application, that is sentencing, does not resolve the justificatory problem of sanctions, and the latter confirms rather than falsifies my claim that punishment can never be said to be just.     

Sanctions in Pre-Trial Discovery

In this paper, we make an economic analysis of various sanctions for disobedience to the discovery request in the common law tradition and in the civil law tradition mainly by examining their effects on settlement rates and social welfare. We find that sanctioning through inference discloses less information and encourages less settlements than both sanctioning by default judgment and sanctioning adopted in the civil law tradition. Also, we show that sanctioning through inference used together with financial sanction duplicates the outcome under default judgment if the penalty size is so chosen as to be equal to the defendant's discovery cost.     

Costs of Alternative Sanctions in Hungary

ABSTRACT. The author calculated the specific costs of executing probation and community service orders. In addition, she attempted to design indicators that help determine the amount of effort probation officers make to perform their duties. In Hungary, the probation service is under the supervision of the judicial system; therefore, it does not have a separate budget. The author calculated the costs of alternative sanctions in multiple steps. The study found that in 1997 the costs of performing probation orders amounted to HUF 10,645 (± 47 Euro) per case per year whereas those of performing community service totalled HUF 13,395 (± 60 Euro). The analysis established that fines imposed are collected and utilised by the courts themselves. This implies a risk, namely, that judicial sanctioning practice may be determined not only by penal law but also by financial considerations. The author claims that this casts a different light on the recent punishment practice under which imprisonment (and its non-suspended form, in particular) has been increasingly replaced by fines rather than community sanctions.     

法律制裁的历史回归

探寻法律制裁的起源并勾勒其演进脉络,不仅可以透视法律制裁的发生机理,而且可以把握法律制裁的发展规律。法律制裁在历史长河中,不仅有线性的流逝,而且有循环的转化;不仅有各种法律制裁方式产生与灭亡的烙印,而且有同种法律制裁方式由轻至重又由重转轻的轨迹。社会文明进步的标志之一就是法律制裁方式由严酷走向轻缓:从摧残生命的酷刑最终转向以补偿和定纷止争为内容的纠纷解决,从而使法律制裁回归历史的起点。     

Examining the Effects of Community-Based Sanctions on Offender Recidivism

Offenders who violate their conditions of release (parole violators) pose a threat to public safety and a unique challenge for parole officials. Historically, parole officers have simply revoked the parole of these offenders and returned them to prison; however, increases in state correctional populations have forced many jurisdictions to experiment with sanctions administered by parole officers in the community. Community‐based sanctions are sanctions administered by parole officers as consequences for noncompliance with release conditions that are ultimately intended to reduce parole violators’ odds of recidivism. Yet, the effects of these types of sanctions are still relatively unknown. Drawing from perspectives on formal and informal social control, this study involved an examination of the effect of community‐based sanctions on parole violators’ odds of recidivism. Findings revealed that formal controls such as community‐based sanctions that were applied with certainty, severity, and in a swift manner along with informal controls such as measures of offenders’ stake in conformity had effects on parole violators’ odds of recidivism and time to recidivism.     

论联合国经济制裁中的人权保护——兼评联合国对朝鲜的经济制裁

联合国经济制裁是安理会依据《联合国宪章》第41条为维持国际和平与安全采取的一种强制措施.战后安理会实施的经济制裁一方面给受制裁国发出了要求或强迫其遵守国际法的警告,而另一方面,在实施制裁过程中给受制裁国带来人道主义灾难,妨碍而不是促进人权,从而削弱了经济制裁的效力.因此,联合国在经济制裁中也应遵守国际人权法和国际人道主义法.     

美国社区矫正体制的中间制裁制度

美国社区矫正体制的中间制裁制度始兴于20世纪80年代,是一种惩罚程度介于监狱监禁和传统的缓刑、假释之间的社区化行刑方式。作为社区矫正罪犯数量增加和社区公共安全保障的妥协产物,具有一定惩罚性的中间制裁主要包括严密的缓刑和假释监督、住宅禁闭与电子监控、军训式矫正中心、日报告中心、返回社区训练所、日罚金和社区服务等类型,以分层控制体系实现保障社区安全和改造罪犯的双重目的。各种制裁措施的适用依据是罪犯的罪行严重程度、矫治和服务需要。中间制裁的应用取得了一定成效,但也引发了一些问题。     

以程序性制裁弥补实体性制裁之不足

为了抑制刑讯逼供的发生,我国确立了包括追究刑事责任、处以行政处分、判令承担民事赔偿责任等在内的多种直接对刑讯者本人进行实体性处罚的制裁措施。现阶段,众多因素限制了这些实体制裁措施效用的有效发挥。其中部分因素虽然在理论上可以通过诉讼制度变革予以消除,但是这些变革都较为重大,何时实现乃至能否实现都还是个问题,而部分因素则不可能通过制度变革予以消除。我国有必要建立和完善程序性裁判机制,使最高人民法院司法解释所确立的程序性制裁能发挥效用,并与实体性制裁互相配合,以抑制刑讯的发生。     

Sanctions, modeling, and deviant behavior

This study investigated the extent to which group influence (and particularly the modeling aspects of groups) specifies the relationship between the certainty of punishment and deviant behavior. An experiment was conducted in which sixty males played a game of “chicken” against a computer. The study was designed to assess the influence of subjects' exposure to deviant behavior by “models,” subjects' knowledge of the outcomes of deviance for the “models,” and the interaction of these variables with the probability of punishment. Analysis showed that exposure to the behavioral outcomes of models' deviant conduct either enhanced or weakened the effects of certainty of punishment, depending upon whether the models were rewarded or punished for their deviant behavior. Implications of the findings for the development of a theory of deterrence are drawn, and suggestions for future research are made.