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Community Corrections
Dan Robbins, Parole & Probation Director
131 W. Washington
Burns, OR 97720
Phone: 541-573-2933
FAX: 541-573-2908
Email: dan.l.robbins@cc.doc.state.or.us
Roger Stampke, Parole &
Probation Officer
Email: roger.stampke@cc.doc.state.or.us
Community Corrections
Community corrections is a function of state
government operated in partnership with local, county-operated community
corrections agencies. Community corrections activities include
supervision, community-based sanctions, and services directed at offenders
who have committed felony crimes and have been placed under supervision by
the courts (probation) or the Board of Parole and Post-Prison Supervision
(parole/post -prison supervision).
In Oregon, there are
approximately 30,000 felons under supervision in the community compared with
11,800 felons in prison. The majority of felons managed in the community are not
convicted of a new felony after supervision. Conviction for a new felony within
three years of beginning supervision (probation or post-prison supervision) is
the definition of recidivism in Oregon. Over 70 percent of those on supervision
do not recidivate.
Community corrections provides a cost-effective means to hold offenders
accountable while at the same time addressing the causes of criminal behavior
and reducing the risk of future criminal behavior. Each aspect of community
corrections - supervision, sanctions, and services - is important to this
approach. County
community corrections departments develop sanctions such as electronic
surveillance, community work crews, day reporting centers, residential work
centers, and intensive supervision programs. Development of other services such
as alcohol/drug treatment, sex offender treatment, employment, and mental health
services are important for long-term behavior change.
Probation/parole
officers manage felony offenders who are in the community by concentrating the
greatest
efforts on the 18 percent of offenders who are most likely to commit new crimes.
These offenders have often been in prison and have four or more previous
felony convictions.
Offenders considered
the highest risk are given the greatest amount of attention, in the form
of closer supervision and also in the level of services and sanctions
employed in their management. The contacts include home visits, office
visits, employment checks, and checks with other agencies including law
enforcement and social service agencies. Contact is progressively less
frequent as risk decreases. Additionally, offenders are often subject to
unannounced home visits, searches, random urine testing for drug use, or
polygraph testing to monitor compliance with conditions of supervision.
Besides the various sanctions and services, the probation/parole officer can
respond quickly to violation behavior of
offenders through a system called Structured Sanctions. This system allows the
officer to hold the offender accountable for behavior in a consistent manner
through imposition of a swift sanction commensurate with that behavior.
Oregon’s Administrative Sanctions Program
Oregon’s structured sanctions program was enacted into law in
1993. This law gave PO’s the authority to apply immediate consequences to
offenders on probation when they violated conditions of supervision. This practice was already established by policy for
offenders on parole and post-prison supervision, the Board having the authority
to create an administrative sanctions process for offenders under their
jurisdiction. Structured sanctions are named after the sanctioning grid in
place to structure decision-making about the appropriate response to a
particular offender for a particular violation, thus providing for consistency
from PO to PO and from county to county.
Goals of structured sanctions:
- To make supervision more
effective in protecting the public by responding to violations swiftly and with
certainty: PO’s do not wait for a court hearing in order to provide a
consequence for a violation of the conditions of supervision.
- To reduce the number of violators
who require revocation by responding to violating behavior before it reaches a
level of seriousness requiring incarceration and by making sure all appropriate
intermediate community alternatives are used before revocation: In the past, an
officer might wait until there had been a number of violations before initiating
a court process in response. By intervening in problem behavior early, quickly
and directly, the PO is more likely to gain compliance and to avoid a
revocation. In addition, there is a range of possible interventions and programs
available in the community that may be more effective in changing behavior than
incarceration would be.
- To ensure that similar probation
violators who commit similar violations are similarly punished: The sanctioning
grid provides consistency to the process.
- To reduce the cost to the public
associated with judicially conducted probation violation hearings and affect
future cost reductions in judicial/court time, indigent defense, district
attorney time, probation/parole officer time: Court hearings are avoided when
the PO has the authority to apply a sanction.
- To set priorities for the use of
criminal justice resources and provide more consistent use of intermediate
punishments: Court processes and the associated costs are reserved for those for
whom other responses have been ineffective.
Want to learn more? Visit the Oregon Department of Corrections for a full discussion on the
programs and services that help to protect our communities.
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