What Are Graduated Sanctions?

eHow
June 27, 2011

Graduated sanctions is a form of intervention in the criminal justice system, by which offenders face harsher punishments each time they offend. Graduated sanctions are meant to reduce recidivism and rehabilitate offenders by addressing the underlying circumstances that lead to crime. Used most commonly with juvenile delinquents, graduated sanctions are designed to teach youth accountability for their actions.

Graduated Sanctions Movement
The juvenile justice system has been overburdened for several decades. Incidents of recidivism and the high costs of incarceration and rehabilitation led the justice system to develop new methods of handling juvenile delinquency. Detailed risks and needs assessments are applied to each offender to determine the best course of action. Serious offenders are detained to protect the community and lesser offenders are placed in inexpensive, community-based programs.

Levels of Sanction
Graduated sanctions are crafted for the individual's needs and are based on the offense. The framework involves five levels of sanctions. First is immediate intervention with first-time delinquent offenders (misdemeanors and non-violent felonies) and non-serious repeat offenders. The sanction here is standard as advised by the court. The second level is intermediate sanctions for first-time serious or violent offenders and chronic serious or violent offenders. Intermediate sanctions might include intensive probation supervision. The third level is community confinement. Offenders at this level may be confined to secure or non-secure residential programs. The fourth level is secure corrections, such as youth detention centers, reserved for the most serious, violent or chronic offenders. The final sanction is aftercare, which is a rehabilitative court-based program that culminates in discharge.

Risks/Needs Assessments
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) identifies a number of risk factors to be considered when deciding a course of graduated sanctions. Individual factors like drug dealing, antisocial behavior, gang involvement and physical aggression; family factors including sibling gang involvement and parental absenteeism; school factors like frequent absences and academic failure; poverty and violence in the neighborhood; and peer behavior like drug and alcohol use and gang activity are all factors in deciding a sanction program. Graduated sanction programs seek to address and correct these risk factors when possible.

Preventing Recidivism
The threats of tougher sanctions and rehabilitative services combine to make graduated sanctions an effective method of crime prevention. Several figures in the criminal justice system can impose graduated sanctions, from probation officers to judges. If a parole officer suspects the parolee is displaying a propensity to offend again, he has the authority to act, even before a new crime has been committed. Rather than return the offender to custody, the parole officer can recommend other methods of treatment. The advantage of graduated sanction is the ability to tailor treatment and punitive action to the needs and risks of the offender. This attention to personal behavior can reduce the rate of repeat offenses.

References
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention: The Movement Toward Graduated Sanctions
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention: Graduated Sanctions
Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security: Graduated Sanctions Overview

Resources
“NASJE News Quarterly”; Graduated Sanctions; David G. Gamble; 2007