-
The Beginning
The oldest form of Community Corrections in the United States, probation, has been attributed to Boston cobbler John Augustus. In 1841 Augustus posted bail and entered an agreement with the judge that he would oversee the man until his sentencing. When the man returned for sentencing sober, having abstained from drinking he was given a fine in lieu if incarceration. Augustus continued this practice for similar misdemeanants for many years. -
Alexander Maconochie
Alexander Maconochie developed the mark system in the 1940s, which the prisoners were to work through a series of stages before they were eligable for release. By the 1900s more than half of the states were offering some form of parole or indeterminate sentencing. -
Probation Act of 1878
During the following 14-year period Augustus bailed out close to 2,000 individuals, posting nearly $250,000 of his personal money, leading to Massachusetts' enactment of the first Probation Act in 1878. -
All states adopt probation alternatives
By 1900 only six states offered offenders the alternative of probation, with northern states following within the next decade, adn western states after that until all states had adopted probation altenatives. -
Inception of Pretrial Release
The first pretrial release program began as the Manhattan Bail Project in 1960, which assisted judges in identifying offenders fit to be released on their own recognizance before their next court appearance. -
Electronic Monitoring for the mentally ill
Electronic monitoring was developed by Robert Schwitzgebel, University of California, in the 1960s as a deinstitutionalization method for mentally ill patients to be released from hospitals. -
Community Service
Community service first started in Alameda County, California in 1966. It was created to substitute fines for low-income female traffic offenders. Because of it's positive effect on the community these programs were further established for juveniles and nonviolent adults. -
House Arrest
House Arrest began in the 1980s as an alternative to incarceration to ease jail overcrowding. Offenders are confined to their homes under intensive supervision other than going to work or other approved activities. -
Electronic Monitoring for Offenders
A New Mexico judge, Jack Love, inspired by a Spiderman comic involving a wrist monitor persuaded a computer salesman to develop a wrist device for offenders in 1983. This device was first used foroffenders convicted of driving under the influence and white-collar crimes. -
Drug Courts
Drug courts began in 1989 in Dade County, Florida. The idea was to offer treatment interventions to first-time offenders or lower-level drug offenders as an attempt to curb drug use and recidivism.