"A Taste of the Bars?"

Abstract

Little noticed in the current controversy surrounding sentencing philosophy and procedures are the sentencing alternatives. Hybrid sentencing alternatives are derivatives of probation and incarceration that provide the judge with the authority to sentence the offender to a brief period of incarceration followed by probation.' There are two main types of hybrids: those decided at the sentencing stage and those decided after the offender has begun to serve the sentence of incarceration. At the sentencing stage, hybrid dispositions include mixed sentences (incarceration on one count and probation on another count), split sentences (suspending all but a small portion of the sentence of incarceration and placing the offender on probation after the incarceration period), jail as a condition of probation (attaching incarceration as one of the optional conditions of probation to be served before the probation period), and periodic confinement (weekend or nighttime confinement with probation during the time spent in the community). In the post-sentencing period, there are provisions that allow the judge to change the sentence after the offender has begun to serve a sentence of incarceration (sometimes labelled shock probation, modification of sentence, judicial parole, and the like). Each of these options is not available in every state, but each state authorizes judges to combine a brief period of incarceration and probation through some mechanism.