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Article: Avoiding the shameful backlash: social repercussions for the increased use of alternative sanctions.
- Article from:
- Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology
- Article date:
- September 22, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Northwestern University, School of Law. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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INTRODUCTION
For many years, the criminal justice system relied upon jail time to punish serious offenses and fines to penalize less substantial misdeeds. Middle ground was hard to come by. But with prisons overcrowded, state budgets overdrawn, and society reluctant to let crimes go unpunished, a smattering of innovative judges across the country have been turning to what are termed "alternative sanctions." Instead of incarceration or fines, judges are getting creative. They increasingly order sanctions that are all about publicity, forcing convicts to make a "mea culpa message to the community." (1) So, drunk drivers are forced to advertise their misdeeds with ...