Addressing the Corrections Crisis with Software Technology

Abstract

Addressing the Corrections Crisis with Software Technology M ore than 2.3 million p e ople c u r r ent ly live in US prisons or jails-25 percent of the world's total inmate population-a comparatively much higher rate than in other Western countries. Denmark only incarcerates 66 of every 100,000 citizens, compared to 760 in the US (www.kcl.ac.uk/ depsta/rel/icps/worldbrief/world_ brief.html). This situation results from tough sentencing policies that focus on drug use and habitual offenders. Over three decades, these policies contributed to high incarceration rates. While most states have stopped enforcing these policies, the legacy remains, with high recidivism rates perpetuating the cycle. This situation has resulted in rampant overcrowding, with facilities operating at levels above design capacity and inmates frequently housed on bunks in recreational areas.

Kiosk Reporting Among Probationers in the United States

“…Other jurisdictions used kiosks as a condition of supervised bond, a tool to assist with court supervision of pretrial defendants (see also Greve & Connor, 2009; Jannetta & Halberstadt, 2011), or before an offender was sentenced to probation. By the mid-2000s, one agency maintained kiosks in their prisons to assist inmates with employment searches before release (see Rarick & Kahan, 2009), electronic messaging with family, commissary requests, video visitation (see O’Hagan, Hanna, & Sterritt, 2009; Schiffner, 2012), and payment of fees (see Schiffner, 2012). Even though the reporting mechanism (kiosk, face-to-face, or a combination) may differ for low- and high-risk offenders, many agencies reported that the questions asked of probationers using kiosks are the same questions for probationers reporting face-to-face with a probation officer.…”

Redundancy Level Optimization in Modular Software System Models using ABC

“…The present study focuses on the optimizat ion reliability issues of software development process, which is also one of the important user requirements. In terms of software system, reliability can be defined as the probability that software operates without failure in a specified environment, during a specified exposure period [4]. A d iscrepancy between expected and actual output is called failure.…”