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Community sentence [1] [2] or alternative sentencing or non-custodial sentence is a collective name in criminal justice for all the different ways in which courts can punish a defendant who has been convicted of committing an offense, other than through a custodial sentence (serving a jail or prison term) or capital punishment (death).
Prison reformers argue in favor of reducing prison populations, mainly through reducing the number of those imprisoned for minor crimes. A key goal is to improve conditions by reducing overcrowding. [7] Prison reformers also argue that alternative methods are often better at rehabilitating offenders and preventing crime in the long term.
At sentencing, the judge may sentence an offender to home detention where they would otherwise receive a short-term prison sentence (i.e. two years or less). Home detention sentences range from 14 days and 12 months; offenders are confined to their approved residence 24 hours a day and may only leave with the permission of their probation officer.
In the United States and Canada, intermittent confinement or weekend jail is an alternative sentence in which a defendant is required to report to a correctional facility for multiple short periods of incarceration, usually during the weekend. This type of sentence allows a defendant to maintain employment and family relationships while ...
The use of probation caused a dramatic decline in the number women serving long-term sentences: in France the number fell from 5,231 in 1946 to 1,121 in 1980. Probation spread to most European countries though the level of surveillance varies. In the Netherlands, religious and philanthropic groups are responsible for much of the probationary care.
More than 200 people marched outside the North Carolina governor’s mansion Saturday demanding he commute all the state’s death sentences to prison terms.
The practice of imposing longer prison sentences on repeat offenders (versus first-time offenders who commit the same crime) is present throughout most of American history, as judges often take into consideration prior offenses when sentencing. However, there is a more recent history of mandatory prison sentences for repeat offenders. [8]
This means that criminals given a determinate life sentence will typically die in prison, without ever being released. If a life without parole sentence is imposed, executive branch government officials (usually the state governor) may have the power to grant a pardon, or to commute a sentence to time served, effectively ending the sentence early.