Stacking the Deck by Piling Up Sanctions: Is Intermediate Punishment Destined to Fail?1

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Abstract
Intermediate punishment as referred to in the United States or intermediate sanctions as referred to in England ad Wales are emerging as major crime control refonn strategies despite the absence of empirical justification for these strategies. The essential goal underlying these strategies is to provide more proportionate and tough sentencing alternatives to prisons and nominal probation. This paper provides an assessment of several salient operational natures of a Florida intermediate punishment programme especially in relation to the programme's demonstrated tendency to file up sanctions' on participating offenders. Various sanctioning agent perceptions, associated decision making and programme outcomes are explored in relation to the ‘piling up of sanctions’ process. The paper concludes with a discussion of several policy implications raised by the reported findings for programmes in England and Wales and the United States.