Summary
-
The National Assessment of Adult Restitution is a Phase I study funded by the National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, designed to provide a state-of-the-art summary and program models for the use of monetary and community service restitution as sanctions for adult offenders. Findings indicate that restitution projects established to divert offenders from custodial confinement generally do not fulfill this mission. The apparent inability of diversion projects to divert a substantial number of offenders from more severe penalties and their tendency to increase the degree of social control exercised over offenders raise disturbing questions. The research weaknesses and needs of community service and restitution projects are detailed.
