Key Legislative Issues in Criminal Justice: Intermediate Sanctions

This Research in Action discusses the origins and goals of intermediate sanctions, their effects on crime reduction and criminal justice sentencing practices, and their costs. It concludes with an analysis of future policy issues. State policymakers interested in developing effective and affordable sentencing policies have turned in recent years to intermediate sanctions as part of a menu of sentencing choices that better match the severity of punishment to the seriousness of the crime. Intermediate sanctions are also intended to permit more rational allocation of correctional and sanctioning resources to safely supervise minor offenders in community programs while confining serious offenders behind bars. To date, use of these sanctions has not achieved anticipated benefits. Assessing intermediate sanctions on a national level is difficult, however, because they have sprung up independently in many different jurisdictions.