Abstract

The judicial system has discovered a number of unintended consequences from punishing violent offenders and nonviolent offenders in a co-mingled fashion, owing to the negative impacts on those guilty of non-violent crimes. When punished together, violent offenders often manipulate nonviolent offenders, who are forced to compromise between compliance and survival. With these unintended effects came the introduction of sentencing non-violent offenders to a combination of incarceration and community based sentences, known as intermediate sanctions. This paper discusses the utility of intermediate sanctions, and their effects on both society and nonviolent offenders. It also examines the efficiency with which sentences are administered. Since crime severity determines the sanction, the factors associated with sentencing are re-evaluated within a judicial context. This paper concludes with a look at the efficacy of alternative sentencing structures.

Keywords: prison, intermediate sanctions, violent offenders, nonviolent offenders