Alternatives to custody

In most criminal justice systems the majority of offenders are dealt with by means other than custody – by fines and other financial penalties, by probation or supervision, or by orders to make reparation in some practical form to the community. The range of these sanctions is wide and the variations on the different types of sanction are numerous, depending on the economic, social, cultural and historical developments in the particular countries where they are applied. Imprisonment is actually and in practice a measure of last resort.

The basic alternatives to custody in our country are: verbal sanctions, such as admonition, reprimand and warning; fine; compulsory labour; disqualification from a specific office or activity; arrest; restriction of liberty; deprivation of some specific rank; confiscation or an expropriation order. There are special punishments in relation to military personnel.

In many countries, verbal sanctions, financial penalties of some sort, or suspended/deferred sentences, may be the only non-custodial sanctions that are used. The most widely used sanction in America and Great Britain is probation. It is the supervised conditional release of an offender into the community as an alternative to incarceration. Probation is a sentence that is carried in the community instead ofin prison. If conditions of probation are violated, the offender may be sent to prison or jail for the remainder of his or her original sentence.

Probation began in 1841 when a cobbler named JohnAugustus requested that judges let him pay fines for and supervise minor offenders. Partly because of his success, Massachusetts passed the first probation law in 1878, and all states now have some form of probation. In Great Britain the officialprobation system was first introduced by the 1907 Probation of Offenders Act.

Probation is generally advocated as a way of rehabilitating offenders whose crimes are less serious or whose past records are clean. It is viewed as less expensive and more effective than imprisonment.

V. Do the following exercises:

Exercise 1. Denote parts of speech of the following words:

punishment, offender, probation, official, incarceration, expensive, performance, effective, service, conditional, alternative, quickly, original.

Exercise 2. Express your agreement or disagreement. Begin with It’s true that... / It’s uпtrue that...:

1. In most criminal justice systems the majority of offenders are dealt with by means other than custody.

2. There are special punishments in relation to military personnel.

З. The most widely used sanction in America and Great Britain is imprisonment.

4. Probation is a sentence that is carried in prison.

5. Probation began in 1841 when a cobbler named JohnAugustus requested that judges let him pay fines for and supervise minor offenders.

6. In Great Britain the officialprobation system was first introduced in 1897.

Exercise 3. Answer the following questions:

1. What are the main alternatives to custody?

2. What non-custodial sanctions are used in our country?

3. What is the most widely used sanction in America and Great Britain?