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Safer Communities, Smarter Spending: The Next Phase of Criminal Justice Reform in Pennsylvania
Customize parole supervision
Moving toward a swift, certain, and fair sanctions (SCF) model for parole violators should also be a priority. As Bucklen notes, “Deterrence theory purports three characteristics of punishment that should deter crime: 1) certainty, 2) swiftness, and 3) severity of the punishment. All the accumulated research shows certainty and swiftness are the most important elements, and that severity is ineffective.” In the three years after North Carolina implemented SCF in 2011, the state saw more than a 50 percent decline in probation revocations to prison. Similarly, after Washington state adopted SCF, participants saw their odds of any new conviction drop 20 percent and their odds of a new violent felony conviction fall 30 percent.
Justice Reinvestment Initiative Legislation, Senate Bill 1071 legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/billInfo/billInfo.cfm?sYear=2017&sInd=0&body=S&type=B&bn=1071
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