Intermediate Sanctions Essay

Document Type:Coursework

Subject Area:Law

Document 1

Intermediate sanctions can be administered by a probation agency or a court of law pending the final order of either incarceration or the offender actually being proven innocent and allowed to resume to their freedom. In the United States, intermediate sanctions are utilized in most states but the terms and requirement vary (Hosking, 2017). Intermediate sanctions have been proven as a form of rehabilitation for criminals and offenders and have also ensured safety to the community. The objectives of intermediate sanctions entail limiting the activities and some of the rights the offender would enjoy if they were a free citizen. But having committed an offense, they have to face the law based on the repercussions of the crime. Sentencing reforms and their impacts The criminal justice system can be described as being out of balance with the increased number of prisoners observed with the turn of the century.

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With about 50% of prisoners incarcerated being offenders of non-violent and drug crimes, reforms have to put into judicial law so that these numbers can be controlled, offenders rehabilitated in better conditions and prison populations maintained at manageable numbers (ABA Editors, 2016). One reform was introduced by a bipartisan group of senators. The reform was established to reduce mandatory minimum sentencing with the focus for prison sentencing on hardened criminals who committed violent crimes and drug crimes of high stakes. This was done to recalibrate the state of prisons by offering low-level criminals and low-stake drug crimes other punishment methods such as intermediate sanctions. The Recidivism Reduction Act together with the Excessive Searches and Seizures Act are both legal reforms within the criminal justice system that focuses entirely on the rehabilitation of criminals by creating an expanded and provisioned prison program that allows for supervision of criminals within prison setting and how they can be rehabilitated back into the community without relapsing to a life of crime.

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Both hardened criminals and “soft” criminals are catered for in this reform and the cumulative effect is to produce productive citizens once their prison term ends. The reform aims at reducing crime and increasing the success rate of the legal system (ABA Editors, 2016). Models and option of intermediate sanctions and the impacts Intermediate sanctions are corrective measures by the criminal justice systems for offenders who have committed crimes that deem them not to be incarcerated or be put under probation or parole using restrictive methods and techniques that will ensure the offender suffers punishment and can be rehabilitated back into normal societal functions and expectations. The options that exist for intermediate sanctions vary depending on the crime or offense committed, the history of the offender and the laws of the state or nation.

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The suitability of intermediate functions relies heavily on the drive of why the offender committed the crime. This is what the legal system through judges, lawyers, and probation officers will use to create a program of any one model or option within the intermediate sanction paradigm, that will serve as rehabilitative punishment to an offender (Johnson and Dipietro, 2012). Liberal ideology and its view on punishment Liberalism takes root in history during the age of enlightenment where traditional and prevailing views and ideologies were challenged and considered ancient and archaic such as hereditary succession. The new age brought about the aspect of equality with liberals using the Declaration of Independence as a document that projects the future where the government through the constitution will grant equal rights to everyone and the disparities that exist between the social classes will be neutralized.

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