Criminal Law
Introduction
The term community corrections refers to the supervision and management of offenders within a community settings. It serves a pivotal role in ascertaining the safety and peace and order in the community. The discussion highlights the manner in which the community addresses factors such as arraignment, parole and probation, community and drug courts, pretrial release, sentencing alternatives and treatment, and community service as a sentencing function. Furthermore, the City of Fayetteville in North Carolina was chosen as the subject of the discussion in which the aforementioned factors in community corrections was examined.
Community Overview
The City of Fayetteville is located in Cumberland County Southeast of North Carolina with an estimated population of 377,193 according to the 2013 census (fayettevillenc.gov, n.d.). In terms of community corrections, the North Carolina District 12 Division was established with office located at 412-A West Russell Street, Fayettville, NC, 28301. In this division, Jacqueline Beal is serving as the Judicial District Manager from whom information about offender judicial procedures, probation, and parole can be obtained. The Court division of community corrections in Fayetteville is being represented by Chief Court Council Miguel Pitts (ncdps.gov, 2016). In the community in focus, community corrections was regarded as a mission to protect the safety of the citizens in the community by providing alternatives. Furthermore, the role of CC encompasses an initiative to reach and equal balance of control in which the offenders are given the opporutnity to change their lifestyle patterns that will have a positive effect towards their behavior. The office of community corrections also facilitate activities that ensures the offender’s compliance with the sanctions and court orders (ncdps.gov).
Arraignment
The same procedure can be observed during an arraignment in Fayetteville City Court. According to one of the Federal Crime Lawyers based in North Carolina, an accused is usually assigned with a public defender prior to the scheduled arraignment with the 6th Amendment attached. There is a difference on the arraignment processes depending on the severity of the crime committed by the accused. For instance, minor crimes can be entered into arraignment during the first appearance in Court. However, more serious crimes are being scheduled for arraignment on a later date usually is a Superior Court (fayobserver.com, 2016). The timeframe set for the accused to make the first appearance vary in every jurisdiction and whether the charges are criminal or civil by nature. In Fayetteville, if the accused was arrested for trafficking marijuana, the arraignment is usually scheduled within 96 hours of arrest following timeframe prescribed by 15A-601, or when the District Court Session was conducted, whichever comes first. For civil cases, the timeframe for the arraignment will be set within 72 hours, but if the accused was released, he/she will be given a later Court date the arraignment.
Parole and Probation
The term parole and probation refers to the alternative to incarceration. The difference is that parole is the term to define an early release from prison while probation is given prior to or instead of imprisonment (bjs.gov, n.d.). However, both encompasses supervision and certain rules that the person under probation or parole are expected to comply. In Fayetteville, there are two types supervision recommended for offenders on parole or probation. EHA or electronic house arrest constitues a requirement in which the offender is required to wear a transmitting device connected to a monitoring device installed within the premises of the household within the period of the sanction. The offender is expected to stay within the house except when the post-release supervisor or probation officer authorizes the person to go beyond the premises. The other supervision method is referred to as intensive supervision, which is being reserved for high risk offenders. This is often undertaken for individuals who are on parole or those who have violated their probation order.
Community and Drug Courts
When it comes to drug related cases, the City of Fayetteville is very particular about the treatment of the case. Both the community and the local Courts are working to ensure that the community is warded off of illegal drug activities. In terms of community action, the focus of the efforts are more on treatment and prevention undetaken by both public and private health organizations. Drug Courts in Fayetteville is referred to as the Drug Treatment Court, which provides alternative treatment to prevent the cycle of drug related crimes and abuse. The District Court oversees the process and operating the program on a local level where the post arrest/sentencing alternative recommends the supervision of chemically dependent, but non-violent offenders for rehabilitation treatment. The members of the Treatment Accountability for Safer Communities carry out the regulated activities such as client management, treatment specialization, and Court matters. Through the DTC, the Court is able to make immediate response to instances of sanction failures and rewarding successful completion of the program.
However, the program is only limited for drug user while offences relating to drug trafficking is being dealt with differently by the local Court. The charges for illegal drug offenders vary depending on the type of substance found in possession of the accused. The local Court in Fayetteville follows the same juducial process adopted from the Federal Government system. The classification system from which the gravity of the illegal drug offense will be based from is consists of six schedules. Schedule I is classified as the most dangerous drugs that has a high risk of addiction. The higher the schedule goes the lower the significant risks involved with the drugs. For example, Schedule II enumerates drugs such as methampetamine, cocaine, and among others. These drugs still has high risk of addiction, but was proven to have significant medical use. Under the classification system, Schedule VI are the leastdangerous drugs with low risk of dependency and with significnat medical purpose such as marijuana.
Pretrial Release
The pretrial release involves an objective, which aims to reduce the number of incarcerated population. The pretrial release is being decided by the judicial officer and assign restrictive conditions that will ascertain the continuous appearance onf the defendant in Court. Every jurisdiction particularly in Fayettevulle City, pretrial services are being caried out by an agency tasked to collect information, create release recommendations, and present risk assessments. In Fayetteville, the pretrial release services is being provided by the Cumberland County Pretrial Services. The agency is tasked to make recommendations of the qualified defendants in order to minimize the number of individuals detained in the county correctional facility. There are also private agencies authorized by the Court to carry out the pretrial functions at the expense of the defendant if he chooses not to be represented by a public attorney. In particular, the Cumberland Pretrial Services agency oversees the develoment of the effective supervision of the released defendants with pending adjudication. The agency also monitors compliance of the released individuals and determine whether the conditions of the release were not violated.
Sentencing Alternatives and Treatment
It was discussed earlier that the Fayettville community corrections function provides effective alternatives to offenders such as rehabilitation. In addition to that, the city’s judicial system also offers sentencing alternatives and various treatment of the cases depending on severity of the offense. Once of the common sentensing alternatives is doing time outside of prison. The drug rehab programs wete established to reinstitute the drug dependent individuals particularly juveniles in the community through rehabilitation and treatment. For other alternatives, the time in prison was reserved for grave offenses, but minor offenses are being reated differently in terms of sentencing. For example, a 25-year old man was guilty of shoplifting in the local convenience store and with previous records of similar offenses and terms serves in prison, the defendant was not giving a five-year sentence as the offense would normally warrant. Instead, alternatives was offered such as attending counselling and serve as a volunteer in a nursing home and the Court also ordered the restitution of the stolen goods. However, the time served outside of prison are being closely surpervised by the community corrections agency in the city and ensures that the offender is adhereing to the conditions of the court sanction.
Community Service (as a function of sentence)
Like any other places in the United States, community services serves as part of the sentence in lieu of imprisonment of fine. In other cases, community service is included on the conditions of the probation order where the offender is required to complete a predefined number of hours to serve in the community. Depending on the nature of the offense, the defendant will need to complete community service for a minimum of 24 hours to as long as two years. In Fayetteville, misdemeanor offenses follows five levels of DWIs (driving while impaired), the judge will look at the previous records of similar cases and wheter or not there was a history of revoked drivers license. The least serious offence prescribes at least 24 hours to 60 days of community services as volunteer in NGO services. The most serious offenses under Level 1 of the hours chart recommends a minimum of 30 days to two years of community service. The same sentencing rule applies to DUI and other misdemeanor offenses, but the historical record of the person charged with the offense is a factor that determines the length of the time to serve for community service. As a function in community corrections, community service encompasses an alternative to custody in which the offender is given directives pursuant to the conditions of the probation. It has two main components, one is to comply with the number of hours performed and the other component is to serve the sentence of imprisonment should the offender failed to comply with the conditions of the community service.
Conclusion
Community corrections constitutes several alternatives in serving justice to the community apart from the conventional approach to punishment, which is incarceration. Furthermore, the City of Fayetteville in North Carolina demonstrates an example of community corrections practices that are both synonymous to the State and municipal level judiciary system. At the same time, community corrections provides community safety and justice.
List of References
Bjs.gov,. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) - FAQ Detail. Bjs.gov. Retrieved 8 February 2016, from http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=qa&iid=324
fayettevillenc.gov,. City of Fayetteville, North Carolina Website : Governmental Structure and Organization. Fayettevillenc.gov. Retrieved 8 February 2016, from http://fayettevillenc.gov/government/city-administration/governmental-structure-and-organization
