Members of the public certainly have an interest in not releasing persons who are highly likely to reoffend, but most support a role for community-based supervision, especially when it is coupled with...

Members of the public certainly have an interest in not releasing persons who are highly likely to reoffend, but most support a role for community-based supervision, especially when it is coupled with rehabilitative programming.2 However, the public does not always consider probation punitive enough—that is, it does not hold lawbreakers sufficiently accountable for their actions. Alternatives to incarceration and probation should not be considered necessarily more lenient than time served in prisons or jails.