WHEREAS, community-based correctional programs (probation, parole, pretrial intervention, halfway houses, work releases, etc.) are approximately six times less expensive than incarceration in prisons; and

WHEREAS, the rate of recidivism is very high for those let out of prison (80 percent of all felonies are committed by repeaters), and when offenders are placed in jobs, which is more likely under community-based programs, their rate of recidivism is two to three times less than that of offenders who do not receive job assistance; and

WHEREAS, many experts, including correction officials, say that only 20 to 30 percent of present inmates represent a danger to society and need to be securely confined; and

WHEREAS, there are many examples of successful locally involved community-based programs (Saginaw Project, Michigan; California Probation Subsidy Programs; Sacramento and Stockton Community Treatment Project, etc.); and

WHEREAS, community-based programs with community involvement provide a more humane approach to the problem and facilitate the reintegration of the offender into society;

BE IT RESOLVED: That the 1978 General Assembly urges the Unitarian Universalist Association to support and encourage the use of community-based, community-involved correction programs as an alternative to incarceration in prison and urges that its member societies do the same; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That this Assembly urges that descriptions of potential and existing community-based projects be submitted to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee where they will be available for review by member societies as a resource of alternatives to incarceration.