Smart Justice: A New Paradigm for Dealing with Offenders

Abstract Given the size and cost of the American criminal justice system, new ways of thinking about community corrections are necessary to both reduce the economic impact and public safety consequences of offenders cycling in and out of prison and jail. Several new paradigms for dealing with offenders have recently emerged and are expanding throughout the United States. All of these approaches involve utilizing swift, certain, and modest sanctions, rather than random and severe sanctions, which is the status quo. This paper outlines the aforementioned approach by highlighting three such programs currently in existence in the United States. The paper ends with general guidelines for constructing similar cost-effective programs.