Reallocating Prison Expenses To Fund Stronger Probation and Parole Programs - Interview at the 2009 NIJ Conference

• NCJ Number: 234705
• Date Published: June 2009
• Author(s): Adam Gelb
• Length: 1 page
• Agencies: NIJ
• Publication Type: Presentation; Interview; Issue Overview; Conference Material

Annotation

This video and transcript cover an interview with Adam Gelb - Director of the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States - at the 2009 National Institute of justice (NIJ) Conference, in which he discusses issues related to channeling cost savings from planned reductions in prison populations to improvement in the supervision and treatment of probationers and parolees.

Abstract

The interview focuses on three points Gelb emphasized in his summary of a panel presentation on this issue. First, he advises that problems arising in efforts to make this reform in the use of corrections resources stems more from ineffective management than from incompatible policies; i.e., policies specify what should be done, but management efforts have failed to implement the policies. Second, the huge increase in the use of imprisonment has resulted mainly from policy choices States have made rather than an increase in crime. Prison sentences have been attached to more crimes, and sentence lengths have increased. Third, there is general agreement that any sentence should involve both mandatory treatment and punishment (enforced restrictions on behaviors, freedom of movement, and choice).