ABA Family Legal Guide

Criminal Justice

Court Procedures

Sentencing of Convicted Criminals

Are there any alternatives to jail or prison sentences?

Yes. For crimes not covered by mandatory sentences of incarceration, judges may impose what are called alternative sentences. Some involve the offender making some sort of payment; others involve being supervised; and others involve enrollment in a residential program or attendance in a day program.

One such option is monetary. The judge may order you to pay a fine as punishment, or to make restitution (repayment to a victim who lost money because of your crime.) Another possibility is probation. When you are on probation, the court releases you into the community. During probation, you must obey the conditions set forth by the court, which may include periodic drug testing, acquiring a GED, job training, abstinence from alcohol and drugs, and staying away from the victim. If you violate these conditions, the court can revoke your probation and resentence you. Some crimes have mandatory minimum sentences, during which probation is not an option.

These alternatives frequently are combined. For example, a person on probation also may be required, as a term of release, to make restitution to the victim.

A less restrictive sentence involves community service. The court could require you to spend a certain number of hours (usually hundreds or thousands) doing service work at a community center.

If the court requires you to remain in custody, you may be eligible for a residential program, such as a halfway house or a "boot camp." In a halfway house, you may be allowed to leave during the day to work at a job or go to school, but you must return to the building every evening. There are also day-reporting programs, which run in reverse to the halfway house: you are required to attend the program during the day but can return home at night.

In a boot camp, you are housed at a prison facility and may not leave at all. You are segregated from the general prison population and are housed with "soft-core" criminals, usually first-time offenders under the age of thirty-five. Your experience will be similar to a boot camp in the military--early morning rising and demanding physical labor during the day. You also will be allowed to attend educational or job-training classes and may receive counseling. Boot camp programs are notoriously difficult to complete. Failure to complete the program successfully usually results in the participant's immediate incarceration.