Responding to probation and parole violations: Are jail sanctions more effective than community-based graduated sanctions?

•Jail sanctions are no more or less effective than community-based sanctions.•Sanction type (jail v. community-based) did not influence time to next violation.•Sanction type did not influence the number of subsequent violations.•Sanction type did not influence the likelihood of completing supervision.

PurposeIn response to escalating revocation rates in community supervision, many jurisdictions have adopted graduated sanction policies. Research on graduated sanctions has shown promising results. However, most studies focus exclusively on jail sanctions and have largely ignored the possibility that community-based graduated sanctions such as written assignments, increased treatment participation, or community service hours may be as effective, or more effective, than jail sanctions. Extending this research, the current study examines whether community-based sanctions are as effective in increasing offender compliance as spending time in jail.MethodsUsing data from over 800 violations committed by a random sample of probationers and parolees on intensive supervision probation, multilevel models are estimated that examine whether jail sanctions are more effective than community sanctions in 1) extending time to the offender’s next violation event, 2) reducing the number of future violations, and 3) successfully completing the probation program.ResultsResults consistently indicate that jail sanctions do not outperform community-based sanctions.ConclusionDue to the financial, social, and potentially criminogenic effects of jail, the lack of significant differences between jail sanctions and community-based sanctions calls into question the use of jail as a means of punishing persons on community supervision.