Alternatives To Incarceration

Jimmy is an Executive Secretary recently convicted of embezzlement. Sarah

is an 18 year old high school dropout that plead guilty to possession of a controlled

substance. Frank, the father of two was sentenced for child abuse. What do these three

people have in common? They all are still living in the community, indistinguishable from

law abiding citizens. The reason for this is probation. As we explore the past, present

and future of alternatives to incarceration, we will concentrate on probation and forego

parole (as it deals with post-incarceration and not the prevention of it).

The history of probation can be traced in a sense as far back as the middle

ages. In the time of King Henry VIII, many crimes were punishable by death. Of course

it is only natural that as society progressed, we could see that such harsh punishments

needed to be tempered with justice and compassion. Slowly, yet determinedly, in an

effort to diminish these atrocious punishments, a variety of measures were devised and

adopted. Some judges simply suspended sentences, much to the conservatives'

consternation. But probation, as a term, and as an alternative to imprisonment didn't

come to be until one philanthropist coined the term. In 1841, John Augustus took on the

first probationer. A man charged as a common drunkard was released into John's care.

The man, through John Augustus' actions was reformed, paving the way for the courts to

release more persons to the "Father of Probation." By 1852, John claimed to have bailed

out and helped as many as 11,000 people, both male and female. In his book, he says

that

". . .of this number one hundred and sixteen were boys under sixteen years of age;

eighty-seven were under the age of fourteen; twenty-seven were under twelve years,

and four were only seven years old. Of this number only twelve were incorrigible,. . . I

have always endeavored to send these persons to school, or some place of employment,

and but two, to my knowledge, have stolen since I bailed them, and this shows that nine

out of ten have behaved well. . ." (pp. 96-97).

Enacted shortly after his death in 1859, the first probation statute is widely attributed to

his efforts.

Building on the work of John Augustus, other laws began to take shape. By 1869, the

Massachusetts legislature required that all actions that might lead a child to the

reformatory have a state agent involved, searching for alternatives to being locked up.

Massachusetts then formed the first statewide probation system by 1880. In 1920, some

21 other states had probation systems. Not long after, the federal government also

joined in. On March 5, 1925 President Calvin Coolidge signed the National Probation